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Three Girls of Hazelmere 


BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND. 


MALVERN. A Neighborhood Story. Illustrated by 
Alice Barber Stevens. 341 pages. Cloth. ^1.50. 

A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE. A Story. Illustrated 
by Alice Barber Stevens. 340 pages. Cloth. ^1.50. 

KATRINA. A Story. Illustrated by Alice Barber 
Stevens. 340 pages. Cloth. ^1.50. 

THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. A Story. 360 

\ 

pages. Cloth. 


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"GIRLS,” SAID HOPE, LOOKING UP FROM HER BOOK 


Three Girls of Hazelmere 


A STORY 


BY 

ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND 

M 


ILLUSTRATED BY 
WILLIAM F. STECHER 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

BOSTON AND CHICAGO 


■pvi 

.D'i'VJ 


THfc library of 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Received 

SEP 16 1903 


Copyright Entry 

CLASS CL XXe. N« 

C / rrf 

COPY B. 


Copyright, July, igoj, 

By W. a. Wilde Company. 

All rights reserved. 

Three Girls of Hazelmere. 


•••• « cct 



(53 


^0 JLoutse Carroll ®l)oma£( 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

“ ‘ Girls,’ said Hope, looking up from her book ” 

Frontispiece i6 ^ 

“ She pointed to the narrow street which led down a steep 

hill ” 78 

“ He had not yet been able to decide which of the three 

girls he most admired ” 132 

“ ‘ He must be an official,’ said Hope ” . . . . 205 

“ Lois was happy ” . 276 l/ 


7 



THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


CHAPTER ONE. 

O NCE upon a time, as the old story books 
always begin, there were three friends who 
lived in an old New England town not very far 
from Boston. The name of the town was Hazel- 
mere, and it had wide streets shaded by elm trees 
like many other New England towns, and fine 
houses, many of which were built long years ago 
and painted white with porches and columns and 
Colonial doorways. Every house had its garden 
filled with lilac bushes and roses and mignonette 
and all the sweet-smelling flowers that grow. There 
never was such a place as Hazelmere for sweet 
smells in the springtime. 

The names of two of the friends were Diana 
Stuart and Lois Putnam; the third was Jane Hope 
Conway, much to her lasting regret. She was sus- 
ceptible to names, and she always thought that 
Diana and Lois might have stepped out of some 
delightful book, while Jane — who would ever think 


9 


10 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


of giving a heroine of one’s own free will such a 
plain, everyday name as Jane ? It seemed incredible 
to her that her parents, who in every other particu- 
lar did just what was right, should have committed 
so irretrievable a mistake as to have had her bap- 
tized Jane! However, there was a certain amount 
of consolation to be derived from the fact that her 
second name was Hope, and although at first her 
parents had intended to call her Jane, they soon 
fell info the habit of speaking of her and to her as 
Hope ; it seemed to suit so much better the child’s 
nature, for they found as she grew older that she 
rarely looked upon the dark side of affairs. 

As she said herself, the name of Jane was one of 
those things that had to be borne, just as one makes 
up one’s mind to straight hair and a nose less beau- 
tiful than the noses of one’s neighbors, and legs 
and arms that are forever getting too long for one’s 
skirts and sleeves. Diana was tall also, but when 
she outgrew her frocks they were given away, and 
new garments were made for her. She was an only 
child, and at that time her parents were rich. The 
Conways, on the contrary, had very little money, 
and Hope had an elder sister whose gowns were 
made over for her, and from her they descended — 
what was left of them — to her little sister Marjorie. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


II 


Diana and Lois were both very pretty, each in 
her own way. Diana had dark hair and great 
dreamy dark eyes and a perfectly straight nose. It 
seemed to Hope in those days that she was a very 
enviable person, especially for her name and her 
nose. Lois was not unlike a lovely wax doll with 
golden hair and blue eyes, and Hope never could 
decide which of her two friends she would choose 
to resemble if a fairy were to appear before her and 
promise to grant her wish. If she were given three 
wishes, she would have chosen Diana’s nose, the 
curly golden hair of Lois, and the power to write 
books. 

This last attribute seemed to her more desirable 
than anything else in the world. She looked upon 
an author as a thing apart, and she never forgot in 
after years her emotions upon hearing that a lady 
who had written a book was staying with some peo- 
ple at Hazelmere. Hope hung about the neighbor- 
hood and haunted the gate, very much to the disgust 
of Diana and Lois, who did not feel as strongly as 
she did about literary pursuits. Perhaps it would 
have been different for them if it had not been wild 
strawberry time. To Hope the taste of the great 
world of books meant more than that of any berry, 
and she refused to be persuaded to leave the hal- 


12 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


lowed precincts. They went off with their baskets, 
and she perched upon a stone wall near the house 
of Mrs. Graham (whom the writer was visiting) and 
waited. Surely, though authors were no doubt a 
separate race, they must need fresh air and exercise 
as much as did more ordinary people — although 
perhaps the Celebrated Lady was writing another 
book, and would therefore remain secluded from the 
world until it was finished. 

On the third afternoon Hope’s patience was re- 
warded. The front door opened, and Mrs. Graham 
came out, accompanied by the stranger. Hope 
scanned her eagerly, curiously. She looked very 
much like other people. I am not sure that 
Hope expected her to wear spectacles, and to have 
books sticking from her pocket, and to be writing as 
she walked, but for some reason the little girl expe- 
rienced a distinct feeling of disappointment. There 
was absolutely nothing to mark the Celebrated Lady 
as a being remote from the everyday world. And 
as she passed the small person on the wall she was 
actually talking with much animation about clothes! 

It was Hope’s first great disenchantment. She 
hurried to the wild strawberry pasture, and found 
Diana and Lois sitting in the shade with very few 
berries in their baskets and very red lips and fin- 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 13 

gers. They were making plans, as usual. They 
asked Hope if she had seen “her,” and she answered 
“yes,” and immediately inquired as to the state 
of the strawberry crop. From her earliest youth 
Hope disliked telling the depth of any emotion, 
even to her most intimate friends. It may have 
been because they always went so deep that she 
dared not confess them. 

Diana and Lois were busy making plans for the 
future. The three friends always did this when 
they were not playing. The plans altered as they 
progressed in years. At that time the three were 
eleven, and to their kindred tastes life in a play- 
house seemed most desirable. It was to be built 
in the Stuarts’ garden, and was to have a real stove 
in it. There they would spend the remainder of 
their days, and even of their nights, receiving calls 
from their respective families, when they felt a 
desire to see them, occasionally entertaining them 
at dinner, and living upon doughnuts and “effident 
taffy,” cooked upon the little stove. 

When they were thirteen they enlarged their 
horizon, and the paths of their inclinations began to 
diverge. Diana bought some paints and spent 
much of her leisure in sketching, always attempting 
the most difficult subjects within reach. Lois de- 


14 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


cided that blue was the most becoming color that 
she could wear because it matched her eyes; and 
Hope wrote poetry. She carried a notebook in her 
pocket in which she scribbled the beginnings of 
innumerable rhymes like this: — 

See the dancing river 
With wavelets all aqiiiver ! ” 

Sometimes she progressed a little farther in the 
poem, and sometimes she did not ; but it was all 
very interesting, and it was then that words as 
words began to exercise the extraordinary fascina- 
tion for her that lasted all her life. 

It was when the girls were fifteen that they 
began to talk about Europe, and when they were 
seventeen they actually started forth upon their 
travels. 

Great changes had come into Hope’s life by that 
time. Her father and mother were dead, her elder 
sister, Alice, was married, and she and Marjorie 
lived with her. Hope was fond of George Howard, 
her brother-in-law, and the new home was as happy 
as one could expect under the new circumstances. 
At sixteen one can bear changes better than one 
can later in life ; but she missed her parents more 
sorely than was ever guessed, and she longed to get 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 5 

away for a time from the place where so many old 
associations made it hard to live. If she could once 
stretch her wings and fly, and get a glimpse of the 
world that lay beyond Boston, she felt sure that 
she should in time be content to return and settle 
down. 

To Diana Stuart, also, life had not been without 
changes. Her father had met with business re- 
verses, and he had been obliged to let the beautiful 
old place in which the family had always lived, and 
move to a smaller house on High Street. Diana 
made plans for self-support, and as her chief interest 
lay in painting, she decided to give her whole time 
to the study of art. The fortunes of Lois Putnam 
remained unchanged, and so, therefore, did she. 
As yet there had been nothing to disturb the gentle 
even ripple of her life. 

The three girls were at the Stuarts’ one afternoon 
in the late winter when the subject so often dis- 
cussed came up again. They were in the room at 
the top of the house which Diana called her studio. 
Here she had gathered all the most extraordinary- 
looking objects that the house contained, and others 
from “junk-shops” and old furniture stores that her 
friends had bestowed upon her, while pictures of 
varying degrees of excellence adorned the walls. 


1 6 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

She had an easel, of course, and a large stock of un- 
finished portraits of all her friends. Lois was her 
favorite model, for she was always willing to sit 
perfectly quiet and be painted, and it was such a 
source of satisfaction to Diana to do her hair. 
Hope found it difficult to sit still long enough at a 
time, and Diana never wished to “do” her if she 
could get any one else — which was fortunate for 
Hope, though at the time she secretly lamented her 
lack of charms. 

On the afternoon in question Lois sat at the win- 
dow with a dainty bit of embroidery in her hand ; 
Diana was at her easel, and Hope was in a low 
chair by the bookshelves. No one had spoken for 
some time, and the only sound was the crackling of 
the fresh log just thrown upon the fire, and the beat- 
ing of the February storm against the windows. It 
was snowing hard. 

“ Girls,” said Hope, looking up from her book, 
“ do you suppose we could possibly do it } ” 

“ Do what } ” asked they. 

“ Go abroad.” 

“Of course, sometime. We always intended to.” 

“ I know we have always intended to, but that 
isn’t doing it. We always intended living in the 
playhouse, but we never really did it.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 1 7 

“ I trust we never shall,” laughed Lois, snipping 
off a new needleful of silk as she spoke. 

“ But I really mean this,” said Hope, pulling her 
chair nearer to the others. “ I have just been read- 
ing about some girls who went abroad and had the 
most perfect time on scarcely any money, and the 
most exciting adventures any one ever heard of. 
Why can’t we do it } ” 

“ They only have exciting adventures in books,” 
observed Lois. “ In real life we just go tamely 
along doing nothing in particular. I expect to pass 
the rest of my days doing just what most people do* 
— living here in Hazelmere, going to Boston, travel- 
ling a little, and perhaps going abroad some day, 
meeting a few new people, perhaps. I shall marry 
somebody nice, I suppose, and in fact do just what 
other people d6 until the end of my life.” 

“ And you probably will,” said Diana ; “ while 
Hope will have every kind of exciting experience 
that is possible. It is just the difference in you 
two girls. Hope can’t go to Boston for the day 
without an exciting experience of some sort. I 
don’t know what would happen if she were to go 
abroad.” 

“ I wish we might try it,” said Hope, “ and I don’t 
see why we can’t. The trouble would be about the 


1 8 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

money. I mean the difference in what we should 
have to spend. I have so little, and Lois so much.” 

“And I am just about halfway between,” said 
Diana. 

It never occurred to any one of them that they 
should not do this thing together. Had they not 
planned and played as one mind since they were 
five years old ? 

“ Have you got enough to go on, Hope ” 
asked Diana, who in spite of her artistic proclivities 
had her practical moments. 

“ I will tell you,” said Hope, rising and walking 
restlessly about the room, as she was wont to do 
in moments of excitement. “ I have the money, a 
thousand dollars, that my great-aunt Jane left me 
for my name. It was the least she could do, I 
think, after passing on such a name as it is ! That 
I can do as I like with, for she said so expressly 
in her will. Of course George and Alice would 
never let me use any of the money my father left 
us, for we need that to live upon. It is very little, 
you know, and I fully expect to be a teacher. My 
idea is this : to go abroad, — say for a year, — and 
see a bit of life. Then come home, go to college, 
graduate, and be a teacher for the rest of my 
days — when I am not writing books.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


19 


“ Until you marry,” put in Lois. 

“ I don’t expect to marry, my dear child. My 
hair is too straight and my tongue is too sharp.” 

“You could curl your hair and curb your tongue,” 
said Diana. 

“ I don’t want to do either, but I do want to see 
the world ! Girls, I must ! We must ! Now, 
shall we do it ? Shall we make up our minds, here, 
now, this very instant, to surmount all the difficul- 
ties that will rise up to prevent us, and go abroad 
next winter ? ” 

Her enthusiasm fired her friends. Diana dropped 
her paint-brush and Lois her embroidery. They 
stood in the centre of the studio in a circle, hand 
clasping hand. 

“ We will do it ! ” they said in chorus. 

And they did it. 

But not in the way they at first planned. Of 
course their idea was to go together and with no 
fourth person to intrude upon their treasured in- 
timacy, but the parents and guardians all rose as one 
man and put a stop to that. 

“ Go without a chaperon ! ” exclaimed the elders. 
“ The mere fact of your thinking such a thing 
possible shows that you are not fit to be trusted 
alone.” 


20 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ But we are American girls,” they urged, “ and 
therefore quite able to take care of ourselves.” 

“ It is just because American girls have those 
independent ideas that they make themselves so 
conspicuous abroad,” said George Howard, who had 
travelled considerably. “Two of you are notice- 
ably good-looking, in fact, remarkably pretty, and 
the third is so energetic and enterprising that she 
would never pass unnoticed in a crowd. Of course 
you must have an older woman with you.” 

“ I think you make a very unnecessary distinction 
between us,” remarked Hope. “ I know as well as 
you do that Diana and Lois are pretty and I am not, 
but you need not keep telling me so. It is just like 
a brother or a brother-in-law to emphasize the fact.” 

“ I named no names,” said George, laughing. 
There was nothing he enjoyed more than teasing 
Hope. 

At last they were made to see that it was quite 
out of the question for three inexperienced girls to 
travel alone — that is, they were forced to agree, 
although Hope always declared that they might 
have done it. All through the long summer days 
they discussed their plans, studied guide-books, and, 
last but not least, hunted for a chaperon. None of 
their relatives were able to go, so they were forced 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


21 


to look beyond their families. One would have 
thought that she would be easy to find, especially as 
all their friends joined in the search, but a fatality 
seemed to pursue each lady who consented to go 
with them. Their choice fell first upon a distant 
cousin of the Stuarts, but some one became ill and 
she was needed at home. Then a certain lady in 
Hazelmere became the object of their hopes, but 
complications arose in her business affairs and she 
could not go. 

In the beginning the girls were very fastidious, 
and maintained that their chaperon must possess 
all the qualities most desirable in a travelling com- 
panion ; but as time went on they became less par- 
ticular, and when within two weeks of the date fixed 
for sailing they heard of a certain Mrs. Webster 
who lived in Baltimore, and who wished for com- 
panions with whom to spend the winter abroad, they 
felt that it was their last chance, and that she must 
be theirs, whoever and whatever she was. It was 
Hope who heard of her from Mrs. Graham, who 
lived in Hazelmere, and with whom the author had 
stayed so long ago, and the girl hurried at once to 
her friends to ask their advice. 

“ Mrs. Graham doesn’t know her,” said she, 
“but she is the friend of a friend of hers, so of 


22 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


course she must be nice. She is a widow, and not 
at all old.” 

“ I am glad of that,” said Diana, “ for she won’t 
get tired, and will be ready for anything.” 

“ But if she is a widow, won’t she be sad ? ” asked 
Lois. 

“ Not necessarily,” Hope replied, with the air of 
one who was thoroughly conversant with the sub- 
ject. “ He may have been dead for some time. I 
am sure she is just the one for us.” 

“ Has she any children ? ” 

“ I haven’t heard of any ; but of course if she has, 
they would be left at school. However, that is a 
small matter, if we can only get her to go with us. I 
should be willing to overlook half a dozen children, 
wouldn’t you ? If we can’t go without a chaperon, and 
Mrs. Webster is the only woman in the whole United 
States who will consent to serve in that capacity, it 
seems to me we must take her and all her belongings 
and be thankful. Let us write to her at once.” 

As usual Hope acted as penwoman, and a note 
was composed and despatched at once to Mrs. 
Webster, setting forth in glowing terms the advan- 
tages that would be hers if she would consent to 
act as chaperon to three girls of Hazelmere who 
desired to travel in Europe. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


23 


“ Our plan,” Hope wrote, “ is to pass the greater 
part of the winter in Germany, where we can have 
the advantages of the picture-galleries and the 
music. We cannot spend a great deal of money, so 
we are going to stay a long time in each place.” 

Then she described herself and her friends as 
best she could, suggested insinuatingly that Mrs. 
Webster would make a most desirable fourth, and 
that therefore their party would be of just the right 
number, and ended up with a gallant declaration 
that they would do their utmost to accord with her 
wishes in every possible way. All together it was 
a very nice letter, and the girls were all greatly 
pleased with it and with themselves. They asked 
Mrs. Webster to telegraph her reply, as the time 
was getting so short, and then Hope took the note 
to Mrs. Graham, who in turn sent it to her friend, 
who was then to pass it on to Mrs. Webster. Natu- 
rally this consumed much precious time, and then 
Mrs. Webster was obliged to take more time in 
which to think it over, so that nothing was heard 
from her until the Saturday before sailing. Then 
came the eagerly awaited telegram : — 

“Will go. Meet New York Tuesday. Tele- 
graph hotel and steamer.” 

There was great joy over the receipt of this mes- 


24 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


sage, and they all forebore to scold each other 
for not having told her that they were going on 
the Westernland of the Red Star Line, two state- 
rooms on which had been engaged for some weeks. 
It was October, so the rush of travel toward the 
east was not great, and they were going at winter 
rates. They did not know how to arrange about 
the division of rooms at first, but they finally de- 
cided to cast lots about that as well as about every 
other question that should come up to be decided in 
the course of their travels. 

“ Three slips of paper in a book,” said Lois, “ and 
the one who gets the longest slip rooms with Mrs. 
Webster on the steamer.” 

Hope’s sister Alice arranged the slips. The others 
were abnormally short, but Hope drew one that 
measured an eighth of a yard at least. She was the 
person singled out by fate to room with Mrs. 
Webster. All through that year of travel Hope 
usually drew the longest slip. 

The eventful Tuesday came at last, and with it 
the inevitable farewells. For days the girls had 
been saying good-by to the casual friends, and had 
been the recipients of innumerable work-bags, and 
needle-cases, and wonderful objects made of linen 
and fitted with pockets, to hang upon the wall of 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 2 $ 

one’s stateroom, and to hold everything that could 
possibly be needed upon a journey from hairpins to 
hot-water bags. Boxes of candy and huge bunches 
of flowers came pouring in upon them at the last 
moment, and it was fortunate that they were to be 
accompanied to New York by some of their rela- 
tives who would help carry these gifts. Each of the 
girls had a steamer rug done up in shawl-straps, and 
a nice-looking bag. They had been receiving ad- 
vice all summer from their travelled friends as to 
what to wear and what to carry, so there would have 
been no excuse for not being properly equipped, 
and Hope had a book which told them what to do 
under any circumstances that could possibly arise, 
with questions and answers in four languages at 
the back. 

It was very hard that morning to say good-by to 
' Alice and Marjorie and the baby, and Hope almost 
wished that they had never thought of going to 
Europe, but the farewells were over at last, and they 
were in the train, hurrying toward New York as fast 
as steam could take them. Mr. and Mrs. Stuart, Mr. 
and Mrs. Putnam, and George Howard went with 
them, and all the way George was giving Hope 
directions. She was to act as paymaster on the 
trip, and he provided her with some foreign money 


26 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


and gave her lessons in reducing dollars and cents 
to francs and centimes. 

“You may expect to make a few mistakes,” said 
he ; “ but after the first week or so things will become 
easier. Above all, beware of the cabmen. They 
will do their best to cheat you, but put on your most 
majestic air and down them.” 

“ I can’t be majestic, George ! ” Hope replied. “ I 
know I am tall enough for it, but somehow I never 
could cultivate that grand air. Diana has it to 
perfection.” 

“Yes, Diana has the air, but not as much of the 
spirit as you have. A very little practice would 
give you more presence.” 

Hope laughed so long and merrily that one or two 
of the other passengers turned to look at her, and 
smiled in sympathy. 

“ George, you are too absurd ! ” She drew up 
her head and waved her hand. “ Cocker, une voi~ 
ture ! Combien — ” 

“Hush, Hope! Everybody is looking at you!” 
whispered her brother-in-law. “ I trust that all of 
you will be extremely careful not to attract attention 
in any way. It is most important for you to remem- 
ber that when you are on the other side. They are 
not used over there to the freedom you have here 
in America.”. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 27 

Thus he prattled on, and I fear that much of his 
advice, excellent though it undoubtedly was, went in 
at one of Hope’s ears and out by the other, for she 
was too much excited to pay much attention to his 
words of wisdom. 

When they reached the hotel and inquired for 
Mrs. Webster, they learned to their dismay that she 
had not yet arrived. It was then late in the after- 
noon, and all the evening they awaited her coming, 
sitting in the hotel corridors, scanning each lady who 
passed, and wondering if she could be their future 
travelling companion, but she did not appear. At 
last they went to bed. The girls occupied two rooms 
that had a door between, and as a natural consequence 
they talked long after they should have been in bed 
and asleep. They had just settled down to quiet, 
however, and were trying to realize that at that time 
tomorrow they should be on the heaving ocean, 
when they heard a peculiar noise at the door and 
found that a telegram had been pushed underneath. 
It was from Mrs. Webster, and announced that she 
had missed her train, but would meet them the next 
day at the steamer. 

“A pretty beginning!” said Diana. “Do you 
suppose she will miss trains all through Europe } ” 

“ I haven’t a doubt of it,” said Lois, who, proper 


28 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

in every respect, was always punctual. “ What shall 
we do with two unpunctual people } ” 

“ I assure you, I never missed a train in my life, 
if you mean me,” replied Diana, hastily. 

“ The shoe must pinch, for I mentioned no names,” 
returned Lois. “ But you know, Di dear, when 
you are thinking of a picture, or when your mind 
goes off on one of those journeys that it sometimes 
takes, you would be very apt to forget all about real 
trains.” 

“ Not with me to prod,” said Hope. “ I mean to 
keep strict watch over the whole party.” 

“ One would think that you were to be the chap- 
eron instead of Mrs. Webster,” said Diana. “ But 
I am getting very sleepy. I hope there won’t be any 
more telegrams to-night.” 

And presently she and Lois were sound asleep, 
but Hope lay awake far into the night, wondering if 
they would like Mrs. Webster. Their relatives had 
made all kinds of inquiries about her and had re- 
ceived most satisfactory information, but that did not 
prove that the girls would find her a congenial com- 
panion. She had a son who was to be left at school 
and who would probably come over to her in the 
summer, and Hope fell asleep while she was trying 
to picture the Websters. It was broad daylight 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


29 


when she awoke, and Mrs. Putnam was knocking on 
the door to tell them that it was high time to get up. 
With a rush of returning consciousness the girls 
realized that this was the day so long awaited ; that 
this was the last time they would open their eyes to 
see their native land for many a week to com'e. 


CHAPTER TWO. 


O N the wharf were the bustle and confusion that 
only a steamer’s dock knows, — huge drays, 
trunk-laden carriages, piles of stuff, busy people. 
The ship’s company drawn up in a line along the 
approach to the gangway, little groups of passengers 
coming hurriedly with their friends, others who had 
arrived early dashing back for something supposed 
to be forgotten. The great ship lying alongside the 
wharf, steam puffing from her smoke-stacks, flags 
flying — the general look of alertness plainly visible 
upon her showing that her few days of rest were 
over, and that she was again to breast the high seas. 
And above all the sun shone down upon her freshly 
painted decks, and flashed gayly upon her brasses, as 
well as upon the blue waters of the Hudson and the 
thousand and one craft that flecked its surface. 

The Hazelmere party arrived early, and after 
inspecting their staterooms and looking over the 
ship, they sat down in the saloon and awaited the 
coming of Mrs. Webster, some of them constantly 
30 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


31 


going on deck to scan the wharf in the hope of 
seeing her approach. They were all secretly very 
nervous lest she should fail to put in an appearance, 
and Mrs. Stuart and Mrs. Putnam retired to a cor- 
ner to discuss the matter in whispers, while the two 
fathers and George Howard shook their heads, and 
said they had felt all along that it was a crazy plan 
and ought never to have been attempted. 

The girls knew that they were quite capable of 
ordering them home again, and they were prepared 
to see their elders pick up the luggage and hurry 
them on shore at any moment, but fortunately, just 
when hope was at its lowest ebb, a carriage dashed 
up to the dock. Mr. Howard was on shore, watch- 
ing, and he seemed to know by instinct that this 
carriage contained the object of their desires. The 
girls gazed at him eagerly, and presently they saw 
him coming up the gangway, a lady upon his arm, 
and followed by a small boy in knickerbockers. 

It was really quite imposing to see them coming 
arm in arm, George carrying innumerable bags and 
shawl-straps and umbrellas, and Hope was so much 
interested in that part of it that she forgot to won- 
der about the small boy. Mrs. Webster was a tiny 
woman. Her head scarcely reached George’s 
shoulder, and she was very slight. She might be 


32 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


described as fragile-looking, and she had the air of 
needing some one to lean upon, just as she was now 
leaning upon George. Hope had an immediate 
vision of the year that was to come. No doubt she 
would go through Europe clinging to the three 
girls. However, it might be worse. She was 
unmistakably a gentlewoman, and she was attrac- 
tive to look at. 

“ I am so sorry ! ” she said, as she approached, 
speaking with a faint drawl and the dwelling upon 
the vowel sounds that is characteristic of all Balti- 
moreans. “ I hope you have not been worried ! You 
see I had to change my plans at the last minute and 
bring Freddy.” 

George introduced them, and they all shook hands, 
and scanned her with great curiosity. It must have 
been a trying ordeal, but she did not appear to 
mind it. 

“ It was all owing to Freddy, ” she continued. 
“ I never dreamed of bringing him, but at the last 
moment he simply would not be left. Freddy dear, 
shake hands with all these ladies.” 

“ Can’t ! ” said the boy, thrusting both hands into 
his pockets. “ There’s altogether too many of ’em. 
I want to see the ship.” 

“Oh, Freddy dear!” said his mother. Do be 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 33 

careful ! ” It was a phrase the girls were destined 
to hear many times before they returned to their 
native land. 

They all laughed and declared that there were a 
good many hands to shake, and then the bell rang 
to warn the stay-at-homes that the moment of de- 
parture had come, and they all kissed and shook 
hands and said good-by with exaggerated cheerful- 
ness. The two fathers and George each assured 
the girls in turn that they considered them quite 
fortunate in their choice of a chaperon, for she 
seemed very charming, while the two mothers whis- 
pered that she looked delicate, and they hoped the 
boy would not be a trouble, and the girls must be 
sure to write just how they got along. 

“We depend upon you to tell us everything, and 
if you have any difficulty of any kind, come home at 
once.” 

And then the friends and relatives went on shore, 
and soon the ship began to move, oh, so slowly! 
that the girls scarcely knew that they were going, 
and presently they had swung out into mid-stream, 
and the faces on the wharf grew less and* less dis- 
tinct until, what with the increasing distance and 
the tears that would come into their eyes, it became 
only a confused mass of color and waving handker- 


34 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


chiefs, and before very long even that was gone. 
They had sailed ! 

The voyage was like many other voyages, very 
uneventful. It was so late in the season that the 
passengers were few, and with the exception of one 
family they were not particularly interesting. To 
be sure, there was Freddy. He could always be de- 
pended upon to vary the monotony. When there 
was nothing else available with which to amuse him- 
self he would get lost, and then would ensue a fran- 
tic search, his mother dissolved in tears in her 
steamer chair, while the three girls hunted in every 
nook and corner of the ship that they were allowed 
to penetrate. It was a perpetual game of hide and 
seek, and he was usually found grinning with delight 
at the success of his ruse. He was nine years old, 
small and active as a terrier, with the face of a 
cherub and the disposition of an imp. 

For the first few days out Mrs. Webster did not 
leave her berth, and Freddy was committed to 
Hope’s especial care. 

“ I know you can be depended upon,” said his 
mother. “Your very name implies strength. Jane 
Hope Conway ! It is a beautiful name ! Even 
though I feel the motion so terribly, it quite cheers 
me up to think of your name.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


35 


“ Mrs. Webster ! ” exclaimed Hope, greatly pleased, 
“ I have always hated it ! ” 

“ My dear girl ” (she pronounced it “ gyurl ”), “ it 
is such a dependable name ! That and your face 
combined make me sure that you will see that dear 
Freddy doesn’t get into mischief while I am ill. 
Please ring for the stewardess! Oh, this dread- 
ful ocean 1 If it would only stand still for just one 
minute 1 ” 

Hope went on deck and sought her friends. 

“ Have you seen anything of Freddy.^ ” she asked. 
They were rolled up in their rugs and were reading, 
comfortably ensconced in their steamer chairs. 
Hope’s stood next, invitingly empty, and she longed 
to lose herself in the interesting book she had taken 
from the library. 

“ I saw him a little while ago,” replied Lois. “ He 
was looking over the railing at the porpoises. He 
seemed to be very happy and innocent and peaceful. 
Don’t bother about him, Hope. Why don’t you sit 
down and have a good time with us ? It is a shame 
that you should have so much care of that boy.” 

“ It is all because of my name,” said Hope, as she 
yielded to temptation and got into the chair. “ My 
name has been a burden to me all my life, and now 
it has got me into this scrape. Mrs. Webster has 


36 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


placed Freddy in my care, just because I am unlucky 
enough to be called Jane Hope Conway. It makes 
her so cheerful and quite sure that I can be de- 
pended upon. She doesn’t agree with Shakespeare, 
does she ? ” 

“Isn’t she odd.^^” said Diana. “Different from 
any one we ever knew. I am rather glad she is. It 
makes such a variety.” 

“Ye-es,” returned Hope, slowly and somewhat 
doubtfully, “she is very different from Boston peo- 
ple, but I like her. If you had to room with her, 
you would find that she is almost too different. 
She seems to require such an immense amount of 
care, and with Freddy just across the passage, always 
losing one of his shoes or his sponge or something 
which she never can find — I always have to go 
help her look. In fact, she is too ill to do much for 
him or for herself. Girls,” she lowered her voice, 
“ I hate to say it, and I suppose you will fairly take 
my head off for even hinting at such a thing — but 
— but — do you suppose she is really so ill all the 
time or only a little lazy } ” 

“ Hope ! ” 

It was precisely the outburst she had expected, 
and she laughed aloud. 

“ Hope ! She is perfectly lovely ! Just as fasci- 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 37 

nating as she can be ! And seasickness is a terrible 
thing. You only had a passing qualm, so you can’t 
judge, but we know what it is ! ” 

Hope was silenced, but not convinced. 

“ It is a very funny thing,” said she, presently, 
“ that you all seem to be rather proud of being sus- 
ceptible to the motion. I have noticed that all the 
people who have been sick love to talk about it, 
and each one tries to outdo his neighbor in a vivid 
description of symptoms. But, oh, where is that 
boy.?” 

The deck steward came along at that moment 
with his tray full of cups of bouillon for the morning 
luncheon, and the girls forgot Freddy while they 
sipped their beef-tea and gossiped about their fellow- 
passengers. Hope had just swallowed the last de- 
licious drop when she became conscious that some 
one was standing in front of her, looking at her 
with a glance that without exaggeration might be 
described as ferocious. 

The newcomer was a man, short and stout, with 
a fierce gray mustache, and black eyes which added 
to the expression of anger depicted in his face. 
By some subtle intuition Hope knew that his rage 
was connected with Freddy. Perhaps it was be- 
cause her guilty conscience told her that she should 


38 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


have searched for the boy before giving herself up 
to the pleasures of the bouillon. She said nothing, 
but looked at the stranger inquiringly. Presently 
he spoke, firing the word at her like a bullet from a 
pistol. 

“ Mademoiselle ! ” 

Hope bowed with as much dignity as she could 
muster. She was in the depths of the chair and 
enveloped in her rug, and it was difficult to be dig- 
nified under those circumstances. 

“ Zat leetle boy,” said the man, speaking with a 
strong foreign accent, “ he iss your bruzzer ? ” 

“ No ; I have no brother.” 

“ Zen he iss your cousin ? ” 

“ No ; he is not my cousin.” 

“ Zen what iss he He iss somesing, and what- 
effer he iss he iss a leetle bad boy. Cesl un petit 
diable, Mademoiselle ! Come wiss me, and I shall 
show you le m'echantr 

Hope disentangled herself from the folds of the 
rug, which seemed to be interminable, Lois and 
Diana also rising from their chairs, and the three 
hurried off with the little foreigner, who was at 
least a head shorter than Hope. It surprised her 
afterward to think that she could have been 
afraid of a person so much smaller than herself, but 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


39 


he was so angry, and she was in such suspense 
about Freddy. She knew that she ought to have 
looked for him before. 

“ Ze cap of my grandson he hass cast into ze 
sea,” said the little man; “a cap for which I haff 
paid two of your American dollares — dix francs. 
Mademoiselle ! He hass insulted my wife by call- 
ing her ze name of a beast, ‘ze peeg’! And now 
he sits in silence and he gaze — he — what you call 
it? II nous regarde avec mt — eh ! — ah, quest-ce que 
cest done ce mot la — it is zee word ze same by 
which one mounts to ze upper rooms of ze house.” 

Hope looked at him vaguely. What was he 
talking about ? 

“ Stairs, do you mean ? ” 

“ Ah, yes, zat iss it ! He stares at Madame until 
she makes known to me zat she shall chump into 
ze water. And she shall do it. Mademoiselle ! 
She hass effer done zat which she hass announced 
she shall do.” 

When they reached the corner of the deck where 
Madame was sitting the girls did not wonder at her 
threat. Neither did they wonder that Freddy had 
stared at her. She was an elderly Flemish woman 
who did not speak English. She was very stout, 
with a waist of immense proportions ; her hair was 


40 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

done in small tight braids, covered by a net, and 
surmounted by a soft round hat which might once 
have belonged to her husband, and she wore very 
large spectacles. She was seated in an upright 
camp-chair, a hand on either arm, and she looked 
ready to spring from it without a word of warning. 
Opposite to her, crouched down on the floor of the 
deck, and leaning against a staple which supported 
one of the life-boats, sat Freddy Webster, his* eyes 
fixed upon his victim. The child had an unflinch- 
ing gaze that was disconcerting even after a few 
moments, and according to the husband of Madame 
it had continued now for fifteen minutes. 

“ He must depart ! ” cried Monsieur. “ I shall 
speak to ze capitaine, I shall punish him ! ” 

“ Freddy,” said Hope, trying to speak very calmly, 
“come with us.” 

By way of reply he shut one eye without moving 
another muscle of his face, and continued to stare 
at Madame with the remaining one. 

. “ Freddy,” said Diana, Lois, and Hope together, 
“ come with us.” 

With lightning rapidity he changed eyes, gazing 
now with the left while the right was closed. The 
three girls glanced at one another. They had 
known Freddy but three days, but that was ample 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


41 


time to discover his characteristics. He was abso- 
lutely immovable when he so determined. Hope 
hated to descend to persuasion, but Monsieur was 
growing more and more angry. 

“ Lois,” said she, “ have you any more of those 
chocolates } ” 

“ Lots of them,” returned Lois, promptly. 

“They are mighty poor,” said Freddy. “You’d 
better throw ’em over to the steerage children.” 
He was now staring at the lady with both eyes. 

“ I have a box of candy that I haven’t even 
opened,” said Diana. “ It is in my trunk. I will 
go now and get it out. Will you come with me 'I ” 

“ Will you give me a quarter of it } ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ I won’t go for a quarter. Will you give me 
half.?” 

“Yes; I will give you half.” 

“ I won’t go for half.” 

“ Freddy ! ” exclaimed Hope, losing all patience. 
“ What nonsense ! You must come ! ” 

“ I won’t unless she gives me the whole box of 
candy.” 

“ But it is a five-pound box ! ” 

“ Good ! ” said he, smacking his lips and staring. 

Here Madame spoke rapidly to her husband in 


42 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


a strange guttural language, which they afterward 
learned was Flemish. Monsieur turned to them. 

“ Mesdemoiselles ! Iff zat boy, le mechant ! iss not 
removed ziss instant, I spik to ze capitaine, and he 
iss placed in ze hold. In ze hold, I zay, and I means 
what I zay.” Then he continued to speak in Flem- 
ish, and it had an alarming sound, although they, of 
course, could not understand a word. 

“ Freddy,” said Diana, “ if you will come with us 
and promise never to tease this lady again, nor look 
at her, nor go near her or any of her relations again 
during the voyage, I will give you the whole of that 
five-pound box of candy, and I will play two games 
of checkers with you every evening.” 

It was noble of Diana, for she loved candy and 
disliked checkers. Freddy rose to his feet. 

“ Honor bright ? ” said he, still staring. 

“ Honor bright, with Lois and Hope for witnesses.” 

“All right. I’ll go. Good morning, Madame!” 
He made a low bow. “ You’re exactly like a peeg. 
I didn’t really throw that cap overboard. Mister. 
It’s here in my pocket.” 

He produced the cap and gave it to the man, 
upon which the small grandson, who had been hid- 
ing around the corner during this affair, came for- 
ward and put it on. The girls surrounded their 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMETRE. 43 

charge, and hurried him away before he should have 
time to do or say anything else. Diana brought the 
candy and gave it to him — it was a lovely box from 
the best confectioner’s in Boston — and then they 
had to bribe him not to eat it all. They were hav- 
ing a most difficult and exciting time, and the girls 
had begun to wonder how they should be able to 
endure the remainder oi the voyage, when help 
came from a most unexpected quarter. They had 
forgotten that they were not alone on deck and 
were all talking at once, Freddy in the midst and 
rapidly becoming more and more aggravating, when 
they heard some one laugh. It was a jolly laugh, 
and it came out with such sudden force that Hope 
suspected that the laugher had been endeavoring 
for some time to suppress it. Glancing up quickly, 
the girls saw, leaning against the railing, a boy whom 
they had noticed among the passengers before, but 
with whom they had not spoken. He sat at a 
different table from theirs, and they had not chanced 
to meet. He was a nice-looking boy of about six- 
teen, with brown hair and eyes. His face was thin 
and rather pale, but it wore an expression of cheer- 
fulness and good nature that was extremely winning. 

“ Is that kid your brother.? ” he asked, lifting his 
cap as he spoke. 


44 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ No, indeed, he isn’t ! ” replied Hope, with asperity. 

“ Not the brother of any of you } Then what is 
he.?” 

“ That is just what that Dutchman asked, and I 
don’t wonder. He is not the slightest relation to 
any of us. He is the son of our chaperon.” 

“ Why, I didn’t know you had a chaperon. I — 
that is — we thought you were travelling alone.” 

“ Of course we are not,” said Hope, rather tartly. 
“We are with Mrs. Webster, but she has been ill 
ever since we sailed, and we have the care of 
Freddy.” 

“ Why don’t you chuck him overboard .? I should 
if he belonged to me. I saw the fuss you had with 
the old Dutch couple. I say, youngster, you be- 
haved like a baby that time. And if you’re going 
to eat all that candy they’ve given you, I should say 
you are something of a peeg yourself. Do you 
want a game of shuffleboard ? ” 

To the utmost astonishment of his friends, Freddy 
accepted this invitation without seeming to resent 
the remarks that had preceded it. He went off 
with the stranger, and they were left to themselves to 
discuss the situation. They decided to tell Mrs. 
Webster all about it as soon as she should be well 
enough to bear it, and in the meantime they would 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


45 


be very firm with Freddy and indulge him no 
further than was absolutely necessary to keep the 
peace. 

“ I don’t think she will mind about it,” said Hope. 
“ She thinks everything he does of that kind is 
funny, and she is evidently accustomed to his doing 
much worse. She spoils him terribly, and I am 
really sorry for the boy. He is bright and attractive 
in a great many ways, but he has found out that he 
can ride right over his mother. Isn’t it a pity that 
he has no father } ” 

“ I wonder who the laughing boy is,” said Lois. 
“ He seems very nice. He has a mother and an 
older brother. Both the sons are perfectly devoted 
to the mother, and she is so sweet with them.” 

“Yes,” said Hope, “ I have noticed them, and I 
have been longing to get acquainted with them. 
Perhaps now’’ we shall.” 

And they did that very afternoon. The wind 
changed, and it grew too cold for them to sit on the 
deck that had thus far been the most comfortable. 
The chairs were carried around to the other side, 
and the deck steward happened to place those of 
the Hazelmere party next to those of the lady and 
her sons. She smiled at the girls very pleasantly, 
and the younger boy, the one who had rescued 


46 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

them from Freddy in the morning, jumped to his 
feet. 

“ Mother,” said he, “ these are the young ladies I 
was telling you about.” Then, turning to the girls, 
“ I want to introduce you to my mother, Mrs. 
Manning. I don’t know your names, so you will 
have to tell us.” He said it so nicely and with so 
much self-possession that, as Diana said afterward, 
“you could see at once that he was a gentleman.” 
They all looked at Hope, so she introduced them, 
and they all laughed and said that there could not 
be much formality on board ship, and presently they 
were all talking away as if they had always known 
one another. 

Mrs. Manning was not pretty, but she had a fine 
face, and such a sweet, motherly way that the girls 
loved her at once, and she took such evident inter- 
est in them that they had soon told her all about their 
plans for going abroad together and about their 
trials with Freddy Webster. 

“ Reginald described to me your experiences this 
morning,” said Mrs. Manning, “and I was very 
much amused. I don’t wonder you find it rather 
trying. I told him that I should like to meet you, 
and I intended to make a point of speaking to you 
to-night if I could find you. I have not been able 

( 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 47 

to be much on deck before this, for I am a very poor 
sailor, and find it wiser to stay in my berth the first 
few days out, until we get past the ‘ Banks.’ Per- 
haps Mrs. Webster will be better now. The sooner 
she gets on deck, the sooner she will recover. Did 
you say that she is from Baltimore ? Then I 
wonder if she can be Mrs. Frederic Webster whose 
husband died a few years ago } ” 

“Yes, that was her husband’s name.” 

“ Then she must be my old schoolmate, Alice 
Howard ! Tell her that Emily Kane is on board, 
waiting to see her most anxiously. Why, this is 
very interesting ! We went to boarding-school to- 
gether near Baltimore. My home has always been 
in New York, and I have lost sight of many of my 
old friends, but I am sure she will remember me.” 

They talked for some time, the other son joining 
them before long. His name was Arthur, and he 
reminded Diana of Abbey’s pictures of Sir Galahad 
in the Boston Public Library. He looked much 
older than the young Knight of the Round Table, 
but he had the same fair hair and blue eyes, and the 
expression of being “ without fear and without 
reproach ” that is so wonderfully depicted in those 
paintings. Hope knew her Tennyson almost by 
heart, but she found “ The Idylls of the King ” in 


48 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

the ship’s library that very night, and the girls sat 
up late reading them. They called him “ Sir Gala- 
had ” among themselves from that time. 

They found that he was a physician and, having 
graduated from a medical school, was going over to 
one of the Paris hospitals for a course there. As 
Reginald, the younger boy, had overstudied and 
outgrown his strength, he and his mother were to 
spend the winter there also. The father, as the 
girls learned afterward, had been dead for some 
years. 

They passed a very pleasant afternoon, and when 
they went below recounted their experiences to 
Mrs. Webster, who was greatly interested. She 
remembered Mrs. Manning perfectly, and was so 
anxious to meet her again that she grew stronger 
at once and was quite ready to go on deck the 
next morning soon after breakfast. After this the 
voyage was much more enjoyable. The two ladies 
talked over old times, while the young people 
walked about, explored all parts of the steamer 
that were open to them, and played games. 

Freddy became so devoted to Reginald that he 
ceased to annoy the girls. He was a good boy in 
the main, but, like every one else of an active tem- 
perament, he needed occupation to keep him happy. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 49 

The girls wished that the Mannings were to be 
with them longer that the peace might last, but 
they were to separate as soon as they landed, the 
Mannings going directly to Paris, while the others 
stayed a few days in Antwerp and then went on to 
Brussels. Their plan was to spend the winter in 
Munich, which city they had been told possessed 
many advantages in the way of art, music, and 
cheapness. 

The days passed quickly, as days do on board 
ship, and at last dawned that on which they first 
saw land. When they went on deck after breakfast 
the coast of England lay before them, and all that 
day they were sailing past those white cliffs. The 
weather was perfectly clear, the sky a bright blue, 
flecked with a few white clouds, and the water of 
the Channel as bright a green, while a stiff breeze 
covered it with dancing white-caps. 

The next day came the sail up the Schelde, as it 
is called in Flemish, or the Escaut Fleuve, as they 
say in French, a river which separates Holland on 
the left from Belgium on the right. They passed 
innumerable little Dutch villages, all neat and trim- 
looking, with here and there a windmill and always 
a church, while straight lines of carefully clipped 
trees marked the roadways. Then came the 

E 


50 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

approach to Antwerp, the spire of the Cathedral, 
which at first sight seemed so far away, growing 
larger and more imposing and more and more 
beautiful as they drew near. It all seemed very 
strange and inexpressibly foreign, and it was almost 
impossible to realize that they were about to leave 
the ship that had been their home for so many days 
and set foot in that hitherto far-away and wonder- 
ful land called Europe. 

Hope leaned against the railing watching the 
scene, and feeling that she must be in a dream 
from which she should surely awaken and find 
herself again in Hazelmere, the little New Eng- 
land town across the rolling sea. She was recalled 
to real life by Reginald Manning. 

“ I scarcely recognized you in your land ‘ togs,’ ” 
said he. “ Everybody looks different. Have you 
seen the old Dutch lady, Freddy’s friend, in her 
bonnet and cloak } But it is time to say good-by. 
We have to make a rush for the train to Paris, and 
we are hoping to get through the Custom House 
quickly or we shall miss it.” 

And then the good-bys were said, with great 
regret on both sides, for they had all become such 
excellent friends that it was hard to part. They 
had not the slightest expectation of meeting again 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


51 


on that side of the water, but the future is ever 
a sealed book. Things are very apt to turn out 
* quite differently from the way that one thinks will 
be the case, and seeming calamities sometimes lead 
to good results. If Diana Stuart had not — but 
this is anticipating. 


CHAPTER THREE. 


T he population of Antwerp is largely composed 
of Flemish people, and the lower classes speak 
that language in addition to French, which is the 
polite and also the official language of Belgium. 
Fortunately the members of the Hazelmere party, 
with the exception of Freddy, all spoke French, 
but when they had landed and were waiting on the 
dock for their baggage to be inspected by the Cus- 
tom House officers, it seemed to Hope Conway 
that they had reached the Tower of Babel. Such 
a confusion of tongues as there was, and such a 
chattering about matters which she thought must 
be of vast importance to call forth such streams of 
eloquence ! So it appeared then, but before she 
had been in Europe many weeks she learned that 
this was not by any means the case. The smallest 
affairs of life, the weather, the time of day, are dis- 
cussed with such vehemence and volubility, such 
wealth of shrugs and gesticulation, that to the unin- 
itiated it appears probable that a serious quarrel is 


52 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


53 


imminent, and then in a moment the seeming com- 
batants part with bows and smiles and protestations 
of mutual esteem. It never fails to surprise the 
more reserved and self-contained Anglo-Saxon. 

The Americans emerged from the grasp of the 
Custom House very satisfactorily, the official appar- 
ently taking it for granted that they were not en- 
gaged in smuggling. With a grand air and a bland 
smile he chalked their luggage and dismissed them, 
and they were free to engage a cab and drive 
through the narrow streets of the old town to their 
hotel. They were all in the best of spirits, and 
they did not in the least mind being squeezed five 
in a cab with Freddy trampling on their toes, while 
he was so glad to leave the steamer that he was in 
a very amiable frame of mind that afternoon. 

The next morning, after a good night’s sleep in 
the quaint little hotel, and after their first experience 
of a European breakfast in their rooms, of coffee or 
chocolate and rolls, they sallied forth to see the 
town. It was a fresh, clear morning, the sun shin- 
ing brightly as it had not done for many weeks, 
they were informed by the elegant personage in 
gold lace and brass buttons at the hotel. The girls 
took him to be an officer of the guards at least 
when they first saw him, but they found that he was 


54 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


merely monsieur le portier, who always sits in a lit- 
tle office or bureau at the door of a hotel, receives 
travellers with extreme politeness, makes himself 
generally useful in giving information, and expects 
a handsome recompense at the moment of departure. 

The girls had been studying their Baedeker’s 
Guide Book with great care, and had decided that 
the Place Verte should be the object of their first 
walk, to see the Cathedral. They also decided to 
keep together this morning, Mrs. Webster warmly 
urging this plan. 

“ My dear girls,” said she, “ I haven’t the smallest 
bump of locality. I positively can’t find my way 
around Philadelphia, which every one declares is 
the easiest place in the world, so what I shall do in 
a foreign city, with all the queer little streets that 
they have, I am sure I don’t know. You won’t 
leave me, will you.? You will all stay with me.? 
And Freddy, dear, you must be careful. You won’t 
frighten mother, will you, dear .? ” 

Of course it was the very thing he at once 
planned to do. Hope always maintained that 
most of the scrapes that Freddy got into emanated 
from suggestions given by Mrs. Webster. How- 
ever, this first morning the boy was absorbed in all 
that he saw, and had no time to think of pranks. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 55 

The streets of the old part of Antwerp are very 
narrow, with little sidewalks not wide enough for 
more than two persons to pass each other. The 
street cars, or “ trams,” seemed odd and primitive, 
and there was a great variety of strange vehicles 
drawn by horses of unusual size and strength. 
Then there were the little carts, pushed by men 
or more often by women, and drawn by dogs har- 
nessed underneath. They saw the industrious dogs 
of Flanders then for the first time, and a hard- 
worked faithful race they seemed to be. There 
are no dogs of leisure in Antwerp. 

The Americans marched along in procession. 
Lois led the way, for she, exact in everything, had 
an excellent idea of position. She had studied the 
map, and was now able to walk to the Place Verte 
with as much ease as if she had been born and 
brought up in Antwerp. She looked very pretty 
that morning, for the sea voyage had deepened the 
color in her cheeks and excitement gave lustre to 
her blue eyes. Then came Diana, full of the enthu- 
siasm of the artist, her dark dreamy eyes lingering 
upon the quaint scenes and grasping all the details 
of possible pictures. After her walked Mrs. Webster, 
with Freddy held tightly by the hand, he hopping 
first into the street and then on the sidewalk, and 


56 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


clamoring for them all to look at this or that. 
Hope brought up the rear, stalking along with an 
aggressively American expression of countenance, 
the red-bound Baedeker in her hand, and her head 
full of doubts about francs and ce 7 itimes, and fear 
lest she should allow herself to be cheated in the 
next bargain, as she was quite sure had been the 
case with yesterday’s “ cabby.” Her anxiety on this 
score caused even her buoyant spirit occasionally 
to quail. 

They walked on until they emerged upon an open 
square, and there they all stopped with one accord. 
It was the Place Verte, on one side of which is the 
Cathedral. The Place was a blaze of glory, for a 
flower market was in progress, and it was filled with 
chrysanthemums of every shade of color. Old and 
young women in fantastic costumes were selling to 
the people who flocked across the square, many of 
them going to and from the Cathedral, which lifted 
its lofty spires far above the surrounding buildings. 
It is one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in 
the Netherlands, and it gave the Americans an odd 
sense of the newness of their own country to stand 
and look at that beautiful old pile, and remember all 
that it had witnessed since the first stone was laid, 
away back in 1352. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


57 


For Antwerp has been through many vicissitudes. 
The city was six centuries old when the Cathedral 
was begun, and it was an important and wealthy 
place in the Middle Ages, until, at the time of the 
Emperor Charles the Fifth, it surpassed in prosperity 
even Venice itself. Vessels from all parts of the 
world came sailing up the broad Schelde to bring 
spice and sugar from Portugal, silk and gold from 
Italy, and wines from France and Germany. It 
was a great centre of commerce, and its manufac- 
tures of carpets and stuffs, of gold and silver, were 
sent all the way to Arabia and India. 

Then came the cruel sway of the Spaniards, when 
the terrors of the Inquisition sent thousands of the 
inhabitants to take refuge in foreign lands. The 
town was pillaged and its buildings injured, while 
much of its commerce fell into the hands of the 
Dutch. Napoleon afterward gained possession of 
the city, and he planned great improvements for it. 
Since then its fortunes have gone up and down 
with the changing chances of war, until now in 
these days of peace it is regaining its old prestige 
as a commercial centre. 

During the three days that the party spent in 
Antwerp they explored every quarter of the town. 
In the evening they wrote letters and journals, and 


58 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

— alas for Hope! — they made up their accounts. 
Freddy all that time behaved like a good little boy 
in a book. Mrs. Webster was in the best of spirits, 
and all went merrily. She seemed younger than 
any of them when the mood possessed her, and the 
girls wrote to their relatives at home that they had 
indeed been fortunate to find so charming a travel- 
ling companion. 

On the last evening they separated soon after 
dinner, for they were to take an early train for 
Brussels the next morning, and the three girls were 
left together in the large room which they shared. 
It was a dark-looking room, as those in foreign 
hotels are apt to be, hung with heavy curtains and 
filled with ponderous pieces of furniture. There 
was a great table in the centre, and here they had 
gathered all the candles they could muster, while 
behind the candles they had placed their hand- 
mirrors, propped up in all sorts of ingenious ways 
hoping thereby to gain a little more light. Diana 
was absorbed in some photographs that she had 
bought, Lois was writing letters, and Hope was 
busy dividing their expenses into five equal parts. 

“ There are so many complications to our ac- 
counts,” said she at last. “ If I could divide them 
among us three, it would be an easy matter, or 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 59 

even among four, but there is Freddy, who some- 
times ought to pay a full share and sometimes 
ought not. He is such an important factor in 
everything.” 

“ It reminds me of some old rule in arithmetic. 
Isn’t there one about the chief factor } ” said Lois. 

“ Oh, don’t ! ” exclaimed Diana. “ Freddy is bad 
enough as he is without being associated with a 
rule in arithmetic.” 

“ Why would it not be a good plan to let Mrs. 
Webster manage her own expenses suggested 
Lois. “ Hope pay for us three, and she for herself 
and Freddy ? ” 

“ That sounds easy, but really it is rather imprac- 
ticable, I should think,” said Diana. “ It is better 
for one person to do all the paying. And then she 
has such difficulty with the money. She is always 
making mistakes and appealing to Hope for help.” 

“ However, she is perfectly charming,” said Lois. 

“Yes, perfectly charming,” returned Hope, some- 
what absent-mindedly, straightening a candle that 
was tilting over from the bottle in which they had 
placed it and rescuing one of the mirrors from a 
dangerous angle. “ Girls, do you ever feel in the 
least homesick for the land of the dollar and plenty 
of light 1 ” 


6o 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“Never!” they both exclaimed with vehemence. 
“ Except of course to see the dear people there. 
Candles give a far prettier light than gas. Surely 
you are not homesick already, Hope.f^ Surely 
you are not looking on the dark side, of all 
people 1 ” 

“ Oh, no, not by any means I I am as enthusi- 
astic as I was in the old days when we planned the 
trip, long before we had any idea of really coming. 
Well, Di, what are you going to say } ” 

Diana had put aside the photographs, and now 
sat gazing at her friends with such rapture that 
Hope knew something was coming. 

“ Only that it exceeds my wildest anticipations,” 
said she. “ Oh, girls, to think that I am actually 
seeing all these wonderful pictures that 1 have 
dreamed about and read about 1 The marvellous 
Rubenses in the Cathedral, and all those old Dutch 
pictures in the Museum I I could stay here for 
months studying those paintings. My eyes have 
been hurting a little to-night, and it has made me 
think of what a terrible thing it must be to lose 
one’s sight, or not to be able to use it as much as 
one wants to. I believe I couldn’t bear it. I should 
just die.” 

“ I don’t believe so,” said Hope. “ People don’t 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


6i 


die as easily as that. There are so many things 
that we have to bear. I often wonder what will 
come to us three as we go on in life.” 

“What is the use of wondering.?” asked Lois. 
“ Why not wait until the calamities come, and in the 
meantime have as good a time as possible .? ” She 
was always placid and practical. 

But the subject possessed great interest for the 
others. They had already been through more ex- 
periences than had Lois, and were therefore in 
many ways older than she. 

“ I haven’t the least idea what sort of a character 
I have,” said Diana. “ Sometimes I feel as if I 
didn’t amount to very much. I am not cheerful 
and strong and deep, like Hope, nor steady and in- 
dustrious like Lois.” 

“ That sounds as if you were giving her a refer- 
ence for her next place,” said Hope, laughing. 
“ ‘ Steady, industrious, and sober, and a good cook.’ 
But I never knew before that I was strong and 
deep. ‘ Deep ’ sounds so mysterious and crafty. I 
am not sure that I am pleased with the description. 
But you mustn’t be so modest about yourself, Di. 
I think when you are tested you will come out all 
right. You are going to be a great artist for one 
thing. You are steady enough there, for you not 


62 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


only have a true love for it, but lots of perseverance, 
which counts for so much.” 

“ I am thinking very seriously of studying while 
I am over here if father and mother are willing,” 
said Diana. “ I don’t know exactly what to do 
about it. I want to travel about and see as much 
as possible, and yet I should like to go to Paris and 
settle down to study in one of the great studios.” 

“ Perhaps you can do that afterward,” suggested 
Lois. “ How interesting it would be to meet Sir 
Galahad again.” 

“ More interesting than probable,” rejoined 
Diana. “ But the candles are burning very low 
and we really ought to go to bed. I am sorry this 
is our last night in Anvers^ as they call it.” 

“ What do you think the most interesting place 
here } ” asked Lois. “ Which shall you remember 
the longest ? ” 

“ The Cathedral and the picture galleries,” re- 
plied Diana, promptly. 

“ The Musee Plantinl' said Hope. “ Think of 
all the books that have been printed there ever since 
Plantin set up his printing press there away back 
in 1549! ” 

“ Of course that appeals to you ! ” laughed Diana. 
“ You think of all the books you are going to write 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 63 

in the years to come. I wonder how many you 
will really write, Hope, and if they will be — ” she 
stopped abruptly. 

“ I suppose you were going to say, if they will be 
worth reading, but a tardy sense of politeness re- 
strained you,” observed Hope, as she blew out an 
expiring candle. “ Time will prove. In the mean- 
time Lois hasn’t told us what she likes best in 
Antwerp.” 

Lois sat forward in her chair, her eyes shining, 
her golden hair forming a halo around her lovely 
face. 

“ I suppose you will think me perfectly dreadful,” 
said she, “but I am going to be honest. I think 
the shops, especially the quaint little places where 
they sell old Dutch silver things, the most fascinat- 
ing places in the world.” 

“ Lois!” 

“ I knew you would be horrified,” said she, calmly. 
And she was so pretty when she said it that Hope 
and Diana both kissed her and then looked at each 
other and laughed. It was so exactly like Lois. 

The next morning came the excitement of paying 
their first hotel bill, feeing the servants, and taking 
their first railway journey on the Continent. Hope 
was in a state of much agitation as regarded the 


64 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

fees. They had held numerous “ councils of war ” 
on the subject, and she acted upon the combined 
advice of the whole party, but it was difficult at 
first. Afterward experience taught her. The trouble 
was that Lois, accustomed to spending, suggested 
sums that were large, Mrs. Webster was unpractical, 
and Diana indifferent, while Hope was consumed 
with the desire to make their money go as far as 
possible, lest it should give out before their year of 
absence was over. 

When they left their little hotel in Antwerp they 
were accompanied to the door of the omnibus that 
was to take them to the railway station by the whole 
staff of servants, heade'd by Monsieur le proprietaire 
himself, as well as the magnificent/i?r/^>r, all wreathed 
in smiles and carrying their bags and umbrellas with 
so much fervor that Hope felt instinctively that 
she had bestowed more than they had expected. As 
the omnibus rattled off through the narrow streets 
Lois remarked upon her unusually depressed ex- 
pression. 

“Are you so sorry to leave Antwerp, Hope?” she 
asked. “ You look as if you were ready to cry.” 

“ It is the fees,” replied Hope, solemnly. “ I have 
made some dreadful mistakes. The man that car- 
ried down the trunks ought to have had more and 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 6 $ 

the waiters not so much. Do you suppose I shall 
ever learn to do it just right.? ” 

“Never mind!” said Lois, blithely. “We are 
leaving this set and hurrying on to another. Don’t 
give these another thought.” 

“ It will be easier in Brussels,” said Hope, “as we 
are going to 2i pension. Surely they won’t have such 
a quantity of men in a boarding-house standing 
about when we leave and almost putting their hands 
out to receive the money before we give it to them.” 

“ I like the independence of a hotel,” remarked 
Mrs. Webster, plaintively. Freddy, dear, you will 
behave very nicely and be very good at the boarding- 
house we are going to, won’t you, dear.? We want 
all the people we meet to think that American boys 
are the nicest little boys in the world.” 

Freddy thrust his hands into his pockets, stretched 
out his legs as far as they would go, and fixed his 
gaze upon Hope, who returned it. 

“You’re the funniest girl,” said he, without re- 
plying to his mother. 

“ Why ? ” asked Hope. 

“ ’Cause you want to say something lots of times 
and you don’t. You were just going to say something 
then about me and you didn’t. You stopped your- 
self up. I don’t know but what I like you the best 


66 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


of the three. You’re not as pretty as Diana or 
Lois, but you’re more fun.” 

He had long since given up a more formal style of 
address, and called the three girls by their Christian 
names. 

“ I am not aware of having asked your opinion of 
me or my appearance,” laughed Hope. 

“ No,” said the boy, with his most cherubic 
expression. 

“ Freddy dear! ” exclaimed his mother, but there 
was no time for further conversation, for they had 
reached the station, or gave. The odd little railway 
carriages, with their doors standing open upon the 
platform and marked according to their class, and in 
fact the whole routine of travelling, was so different 
from that to which they were accustomed at home, 
that the attention of all, including Freddy, was com- 
pletely absorbed. 

The journey to Brussels was not long, and was 
through a flat landscape totally unlike anything that 
they had ever seen. When they arrived and drove 
through the broad avenues of the Belgian capital, 
past parks and palaces, stately churches and vast 
public buildings, they realized that they had reached 
one of the handsomest and busiest cities of the Old 
World. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


67 


The pension to which they had been advised to go 
was kept by an Englishwoman, whose boarders were 
chiefly of her own nation. It was a large house on 
the corner of two streets, and the drawing-room, or 
salon, was filled to overflowing with furniture and 
bric-a-brac, while a cheerful coal fire burned in the 
grate, and bowls of flowers and potted plants gave a 
cheerful aspect to what would otherwise have been 
a dark room. 

“How do you like it.?’^ asked Hope, when they 
were upstairs, and the door closed. The three girls 
had a large room, with a smaller one adjoining. 
Mrs. Webster and Freddy were established on the 
floor below. 

“ For my part,” said Diana, “ I feel for the moment 
as free as a bird. Freddy is safely tucked away out 
of sight. That boy is getting to be almost too much 
for me.” 

“ Oh, he isn’t as bad as you make him out to be, 
Di,” said Hope. “ He has been quite angelic the 
last few days. It was the voyage that affected him, 
probably, and made him so obstreperous on board 
ship. He will be all right now.” 

“ Don’t be too sure,” returned Diana, gloomily. 
“ It is my opinion that he is only lying low, and may 
break out at any minute. He is a sleeping volcano. 


68 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


Just when you think they are quite extinct they 
always break out, and he is by no means extinct.” 

“ Then, according to your theory, he is not yet 
ready to break out,” said Hope. 

They all laughed and then were quiet for a 
moment, and in the silence they heard very plainly 
something that was said in the next room. There 
were folding doors between, and apparently the 
speaker on the other side was sitting very close to 
them. 

“ They are unmistakably Americans,” said a low- 
pitched but very distinct voice, with an intonation 
that proved the lady to be English, “ for they are so 
breezy. Americans are so awfully breezy, you 
know.” 

“And they are all very good-looking and very 
well dressed; I saw them arrive. Americans are 
always well dressed, for they have such an amount 
of money, you know. They can afford it. But 
their voices ! ” 

“ Oh, yes, their voices ! ” rejoined some one else, 
and there was a chorus of disapproval. And then 
a bell rang from below which summoned them to 
luncheon. 

“We must look out for our voices,” whispered 
Hope, when their suppressed laughter had subsided 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 69 

somewhat. “ I suppose it must be true that Ameri- 
cans have high-pitched voices, for it is always said 
of us, and that in the next room was attractive, 
wasn’t it } But it was a sad voice. Breezy, are 
we.f^ They will find Freddy decidedly breezy, I 
am afraid. They little know what is in store for 
them.” 

Everything was done with great propriety at Miss 
]onso\\s pension, and with an elaborateness of style 
that was intended to make people imagine that they 
were invited guests, rather than boarders who were 
staying there at the well-defined rate of so many 
francs a day. They were all assembled in the salon 
when the Americans went downstairs, and were 
awaiting the coming of Miss Jonson. No one 
thought of going to the table until she was ready to 
take her place at the head of it. Hope looked from 
one to the other of the group of people, anxious to 
discover the owner of the attractive voice, but they 
were all staring so hard at the newcomers that she 
turned away and began to talk to her friends. A 
little later, when they were seated at the table, she 
heard the voice again. 

It came from a very tall young woman. She was 
over six feet in height, and Hope had noticed when 
she came into the room that she was taller even 


70 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


than she was herself. She was dressed in an aggres- 
sively masculine fashion, wearing a very high linen 
collar and a red hunting-waistcoat which did not 
seem particularly appropriate to the present occa- 
sion. She had a monocle which she occasionally 
placed in her eye, and through which she stared 
at the company. She looked bored, and she spoke 
very seldom. They learned afterward that her 
name was May Redwood. At first she was inclined 
to scorn all things American, but afterward she 
changed in this respect and became excellent friends 
with the girls, and especially with Hope. 


CHAPTER FOUR. 


I T was nearly three weeks later and the Ameri- 
cans still lingered in Brussels. It had been 
their intention to stay there but a short time and 
then to move on to Munich for the remainder of the 
winter, but for various reasons their going had been 
delayed. 

“ I believe it will end in our staying here all 
winter,” said Hope Conway, one afternoon. She 
and Diana were alone in their room and Hope stood 
at the window looking out into the street. It was 
raining hard, as it usually does in Brussels. The 
room was very dark, and Diana sat at the other 
window, trying to catch the last rays of daylight for 
her book. 

“ I never was in such a depressing place,” con- 
tinued Hope. “ When we first got here I thought 
it was perfect, and if we had gone away at the end 
of a week, as we intended to do, I should always 
have considered Brussels an attractive, interesting 
place. The trip to Waterloo was delightful, and 


71 


72 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


filled me with a mad enthusiasm for history, and I 
have enjoyed being in a place that is mentioned in 
my dear ‘ Vanity Fair.’ To think of our seeing the 
very house where the ball was given the night be- 
fore the battle of Waterloo, the ball that Thackeray 
tells about, and then to go and see the battle-ground 
itself ! It makes it all seem so real. And I had 
forgotten until to-day that the scene of Charlotte 
Bronte’s ‘ Villette’ is Brussels, and she was here her- 
self, you know, as teacher in one of the schools. 
But, oh, this darkness! We only have actual day- 
light from nine until three, and then it is only an 
apology for the real thing. I felt this morning at 
the breakfast table as if I should burst into tears, it 
was so dark. Miss Jonson is so economical about 
gas.” 

“ It isn’t like you to get so depressed, Hope. 
You don’t feel this way often, and it isn’t always 
December, with short days and so much rain. You 
know when it was first suggested that we should 
stay longer you were rather glad to do it.” Diana 
put aside her book and passed her hand over her 
eyes as she spoke. 

“ I know I was, but really, Di, I am getting quite 
worried about various things. We came abroad for 
a certain purpose, didn’t we.^^ You for art, I for 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 73 

experience, Lois, I suppose, for general information. 
Whoever dreamed that we should be hampered in 
our flight by such tawdry and paltry considerations 
as new clothes ? ” 

Hope had left the window and now drew her 
chair to the little open stove, where a small coal Are 
burned dimly. 

“ It is too provoking,” she continued, as she poked 
the fire vigorously. “ If we had Lois to ourselves 
she never would think of getting so many new 
things. It is all Mrs. Webster’s influence. Lois is 
perfectly fascinated by her, and is willing to do any- 
thing that she suggests. Of course all the dress- 
makers and tailors are going to disappoint them, and 
keep us staying on here. They would be idiots if 
they didn’t, for the longer we stay the more those 
two will order. This is the fifth time this week that 
Mrs. Webster and Lois have gone off for hours, and 
left me with the care of Freddy. They promised to 
be back by two o’clock, for they know I have an en- 
gagement with Miss Redwood. I am going to strike.” 

“ Poor Hope ! ” said Diana. “ It is a shame, and 
I don’t wonder you are cross. I will look after 
Freddy the next time.” 

“No, I shall not allow that. You must get all 
you can at the Museum and the other picture gal- 


74 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


leries. That is the most important thing for us to 
think of.” 

“ I can make up for lost time when we get to 
Munich, and indeed I think it will be just as well 
for my eyes to rest a little. They have been troub- 
ling me a good deal lately. I don’t know what can 
be the matter with them.” She moved her eyelids 
rapidly as she spoke and again passed her hand 
over them. 

“ I have seen you do that very often,” said Hope. 
“ It is this horrid darkness that is trying them. 
You must be careful of them, Di. If I were you I 
wouldn’t read. Just save those precious eyes for 
looking at things. I wish your eyes were as strong 
as mine or Lois’s. And she doesn’t care to use 
hers for looking at pictures ! Queer, isn’t it 1 ” 

“Yes. I wish that Lois would care more for the 
things that we care for. I hate to have her de- 
teriorate.” 

“ So should I if I thought she were doing so, but 
it isn’t worth while to expect too much of her. We 
both know how dear she is. And what a fortunate 
thing it is that she has grown so fond of Mrs. Web- 
ster. As we are travelling together, it would be a 
pity if none of us cared to be with her, and to do 
the things sometimes that she likes tb.st.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 75 

“ That is true, and I suppose we mustn’t be too 
exacting.” 

“ But I trust we shall get away from here before 
Christmas,” said Hope. “ We have set our hearts 
on seeing a German Christmas, and I shall be 
awfully disappointed if we don’t. I wonder what 
Freddy is doing now. I left him playing Halma 
with Miss Redwood. She is very good-natured, 
isn’t she, in spite of her odd ways } She looks so 
exactly as if she had stepped out of Pmich, so 
exaggeratedly masculine and so English in her long 
loose coat and her man’s hat. When she puts that 
monocle into her eye I can scarcely keep from 
laughing outright. But I like her, although she 
never knows whether I am joking or in earnest, 
or rather she always thinks I am in earnest. She 
asked me to go with her this afternoon to have 
a cup of tea at the ‘ Mikado,’ that tea-room that is 
kept by those English girls down on the Rue 
Roy ale, I wish she had asked you, too.” 

“ I don’t think she finds me as interesting as she 
does you,” said Diana. “ She rather likes your 
quick tongue, though she doesn’t understand your 
jokes. I will look after Freddy until his mother 
comes home.” 

“ You are a dear,” said Hope. 


76 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

At this moment there was a knock on the door, 
and upon opening it they found Miss Redwood. 

“ Are you ready, Miss Conway } ” she asked, as 
she came in. “ And won’t you come with us, Miss 
Stuart.? I should like awfully to have you. We 
are going to get a cup of tea at the ‘ Mikado,’ you 
know.” 

“ No, I thank you,” said Diana. “ I am tired, for 
I have been doing ever so much sight-seeing to-day, 
and as all the others are out I must look after 
Freddy.” 

“ It seems to me you are all very good-natured,” 
said Miss Redwood. “He is a jolly enough little 
chap, but I fancy it must be a bit boring to have 
him always about.” 

“ I think you were very good-natured to play 
Halma with him.” 

“ Oh, he’s not half bad, and he plays rather well 
for such a little lad.” 

“ What has become of him now ? ” asked Hope, 
as she hurried about the room, now pausing before 
the mirror to set her hat straight, now diving into 
trunks and boxes and drawers in a vain search for 
her gloves. 

“ He has gone to his room. He said he had 
something on hand to do. I forget what. He 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


77 


looked sleepy and good. I guess he is all right, 
as you Americans would say.” 

“ I fahncy he’s not, as you English would say ! ” 
rejoined Hope. “ Sleepy and good! A sure sign 
that he is planning something uncommonly wide- 
awake and bad. You had better keep a sharp eye 
on the little lad, Di. There, I am ready at last, 
Miss Redwood. Oh, my umbrella I It seems 
so extraordinary never to be able to go out with- 
out an umbrella. Good-by, Di. Don’t try to read 
any more, even when the lamp comes, will you, dear ” 

Diana, left to herself, drew an armchair close to 
the fire and gave herself up to memories of all that 
she had seen that morning. She forgot Freddy, or 
if she thought of him, she told herself that he was 
in his room and for once could be left to himself for 
a little while. She was tired and she closed her 
eyes, in which the greater part of her fatigue seemed 
to centre. Very soon she was fast asleep in the 
big chair. 

Hope and Miss Redwood left the house, quite 
unconscious that a small person was watching them 
from an upper window. They walked quickly down 
the street in the direction of the shops. Their way 
was for a time through one of the magnificent 
boulevards of Brussels, an avenue of immense 


78 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

breadth, and consisting really of three streets that 
run on parallel lines, with double rows of trees and 
wide paths for foot-passengers and horsemen. It 
was not now raining, but the streets were wet, and 
the myriad lights showed somewhat dimly through 
a fog that gave a touch of mystery to the great city. 
When the two girls reached the vast open space in 
the centre of the town, which is called the Place 
Roy ale ^ Hope paused for a moment. 

“ Do you mind stopping a minute } ” said she. 
“ Isn’t it wonderful 't Look at those long lines 
of lights stretching away in all directions through 
the mist ! And look down Mo7itag7te de la 
Cour ! ” 

She pointed to the narrow street which led down 
a steep hill, and then wound its way out of sight 
around the corners of quaint, foreign-looking build- 
ings. It was lined with fascinating shop windows, 
all brilliantly lighted at that hour, for though it was 
but four o’clock it was as dark as night. Up and 
down this street walked crowds of people of all 
classes, well-dressed men and women, working 
people, idlers of all degrees, news-venders crying 
their papers, and foreigners from all parts of the 
world. The sidewalks being too narrow for more 
than two abreast, they walked in the middle of the 



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THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 79 

street, scattering to right and left when huge omni- 
buses drawn by four horses, automobiles, and pri- 
vate carriages dashed along at a furious pace, their 
drivers uttering a peculiar whoop to warn the 
pedestrians that their safety depended entirely upon 
their own agility in getting out of the way. 

The two girls, after watching the scene for a few 
minutes, went on to the tea-room. 

“ I am glad you could come with me,” said Miss 
Redwood, when she had given the order. “ I am 
always very thankful to get away from tea at the 
pension. To see huge Mrs. Brently, with her 
white hair and her absurdly pompous manner, 
sitting up behind the urn, pouring out the best 
cup of tea for herself and giving every one else a 
cup of hot water, is rather more than I can endure. 
She is quite the most irritating woman I have 
ever met, and why Miss Jonson allows her to 
make the tea I cannot imagine.” 

“ I am so afraid that Freddy will do or say 
something to her,” laughed Hope. “ He makes 
her very uncomfortable as it is by staring at her 
across the table. She gets so cross that at times 
I fairly tremble.” 

“ Cross ! Rather ! She has a terrible temper. 
I wish the little chap would do something to wake 


So 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


US all up. I am so bored with existence in that 
boarding-house that I would gladly have something 
happen. However, you Americans are always 
amusing. One never knows quite what you will 
do or say next.” 

“ Thank you ! ” said Hope, laughing. “ I was not 
sure that you appreciated our powers of being amus- 
ing. We have occasionally said some rather good 
things that I thought you did not understand.” 

“ Oh, it is not altogether what you say,” rejoined 
Miss Redwood. “ I confess that sometimes when 
you laugh among yourselves I am quite at a loss to 
know what the joke is. You laugh so easily, you 
know. But look, here come your friends, Mrs. 
Webster and that pretty Miss Putnam! Let us 
make room for them at our table.” 

“We have been having such a good time!” 
exclaimed Lois, joyously, as, the greetings over 
and their chocolate having been ordered, she pulled 
off her gloves. “ The shops here are so amusing. 
The shopkeepers don’t like it a bit if you look at 
things and then don’t buy them. One woman 
called after us: Ces Anglaises sont toujours si 
desagreables ! ’ ” 

“ What do you think of that. Miss Redwood } 
Fancy our being taken for Englishwomen ! You 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 8 1 

and Mrs. Brently, with your superiority to all things 
American, must find that hard to bear.” 

“ Pray do not class me with Mrs. Brently ! ” said 
Miss Redwood. “ And really, you know, I feel 
very different about Americans since you came 
to Brussels. You are all ladies, it is easy to see. 
What are you laughing at } Have I said anything 
funny } I did not intend to, I assure you.” 

“ No, I know you didn’t,” said Hope, “and that 
is just the funniest part of the whole thing, and 
you do look so completely puzzled.” 

“ I don’t see why we are taken for English 
people,” said Mrs. Webster, “but I suppose the 
shop people judge entirely by the language. They 
think, too, that both nations have plenty of money 
to spend, and they are so eager to sell. At one 
place we stopped to look in the window, which was 
full of exquisite lace, and three women actually 
came out on the sidewalk and begged us to come 
in. They told us that the entrance was free! 
It proved not to be free at all, for I couldn’t get 
away without buying some.” 

“ Mrs. Webster 1 More lace } ” 

“My dear Hope, I simply can’t resist it I You 
know lace is one of my especial weaknesses. I 
sometimes actually wish that Freddy were a girl. 


82 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


for then I should have more excuse for buying it. 
By the way, Hope dear, where is Freddy I 
intended to get back before this, but I always feel 
so safe when I leave him with you. You are so 
dependable. It has added so much to my pleasure 
in the Brussels shops to feel that dear Freddy was 
safe with you.” 

“Has it really You are kind to say so,” 

rejoined Hope. Lois understood the sarcasm in 
her tone, but Mrs. Webster did not suspect it. 
“ Miss Redwood has been playing Halma with 
him, and we left him with Diana. I don’t know 
what he may not be doing by this time. Setting 
the house on fire, perhaps.” 

“ Oh, my dear Hope ! What a fright you have 
given me ! Do let us hurry home. How can you 
suggest anything so dreadful ? ” 

Half an hour later, when they left the tram in 
which they had ridden to within a block of the 
pension^ Hope saw a small, strangely familiar figure 
hurrying along the rather dark street. 

“ Look ! ” said Miss Redwood, who was walking 
with her in front, while Mrs. Webster and Lois 
followed more slowly. “ My word ! I believe it is 
the little chap himself.” 

“ It is ! ” exclaimed Hope. “ He has been out 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 83 

alone, a thing which he is never allowed to do. 
What will his mother say.f^ He might have been 
kidnapped. She is always expecting it.” 

“ Then she ought to watch him more carefully, 
or have a maid to look after him. It is quite too 
preposterous that she should depend upon you. 
Yes, he is going up the steps. It is he! Let us 
walk more slowly, and perhaps he will get in before 
we reach the door.” 

But a tell-tale street light shone directly down 
upon the small person waiting upon the steps for 
the door to be opened, and Mrs. Webster, moved 
by a sudden impulse to haste, passed the tall girls 
in front of her and saw him. 

“ Who is that at our door ? ” she asked. “ It 
looks like — Hope! Lois! It is — it is Freddy! 
He has been out alone in this wicked foreign city ! 
Hope, how could you leave him.f^ I thought I could 
trust you to look after my boy. Freddy dear, where 
have you been } ” 

“ Out for a stroll,” replied Freddy, holding his hand 
over one of his pockets which bulged suspiciously. 

“ My precious child, how did you know your way } 
And where did you go.^” 

“ Oh, I just went over to the Chaussee Ixelles 
and had a look at the shop windows.” 


84 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


“The Chaussee d'lxelles ! That dreadfully com- 
mon street, so crowded with wicked-looking people! 
You know, Freddy dear, that mother never allows 
you to go out here alone.” 

“ Well, you were all out, and I got tired of hanging 
around doing nothing, so I just went myself. I have 
studied the map, and I know my way around as well 
as anybody. It’s no fun poking in this dark old house 
alone. I hate Europe, anyway. Wish I was home I ” 
They all went upstairs, Mrs. Webster agitated 
and reproachful, Freddy very obstinate, Lois doing 
her best to throw oil upon the troubled waters, while 
Hope was quite silent. She felt that Mrs. Webster 
was unjust to place all the responsibility for Fred- 
dy’s actions upon her, and she knew that if she 
spoke, she would say something that afterward she 
might regret. She went to her room, anxious to 
hear from Diana how Freddy had escaped her. She 
opened the door with a sudden burst. The fire was 
nearly out, and there was no light. From the chair 
in front of the grate a figure rose slowly. 

“ How you startled me ! ” said Diana, in a drowsy 
voice ; “ I must have been asleep. I wonder what 
time it is, and what Freddy is doing?” 

“You’d better wonder 1 ” exclaimed Hope, wrath- 
fully. “ I left the dreadful child in your care, Diana 1 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


85 


I see that I can’t trust anybody. He has been out 
by himself, and Mrs. Webster is perfectly furious 
about it. She is all upset, and I am getting all the 
blame. She says she left him with me and that it 
is my fault. I never came abroad to be a child’s 
nurse. I have a good mind to go back by the next 
steamer. Do let us have a light ! ” 

She struck match after match, in her agitation 
putting them out as fast as they were lighted. At 
last the lamp and several candles were burning, and 
the room had become so brilliant that Diana cov- 
ered her eyes with an exclamation of pain, but Hope 
was too much excited to notice it. 

“ I am very sorry,” said Diana, “ but I was so tired, 
and my eyes ached so badly that I had to shut them 
for a while, and I suppose the darkness made me 
fall asleep. But if he is safely back, I don’t see what 
difference it makes. If he had got lost, how much 
worse it would have been.” 

“Well, I wish you would go tell Mrs. Webster 
that ! And no one knows what he may not have 
been doing while he was gone. I am willing to 
wager a good deal that we shall have cause to rue 
the day when we let him escape. There will be far- 
reaching consequences of some sort, you see if there 
are not ! ” 


86 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


“ What a raven you are, Hope ! ” said Lois, who 
had come into the room while she was speaking. 
“ It isn’t a bit like you to be always croaking dis- 
aster. Mrs. Webster feels much better about it 
now, for Freddy said he was sorry, and he has gone 
down to the salon to wait for dinner, as good as he 
can be. She doesn’t understand, though, how he 
got out, and if you or Diana would go and explain 
it to her, I think it would be better.” 

“ I will go as soon as I am dressed for dinner,” 
said Diana. “ It was all my fault, for Hope would 
not have gone out if I had not offered to look after 
him.” 

Half an hour later they were all assembled in the 
salon, waiting for Miss Jonson to take her place at 
the table in the next room. Diana had made her 
peace with Mrs. Webster, and she, with the bright 
smile and the pretty graciousness of manner which 
made every one like her in spite of her provoking 
traits, went to Hope the moment that she came 
downstairs. 

“ I am so sorry, Hope dear, that I was so cross,” 
she said sweetly. “You will forgive me, I know. 
Diana tells me that it was all her fault, and she is 
so full of remorse that I have forgiven her. You 
know that precious child is very dear to me. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


87 


He is all I have ! And the thought of his being 
lost in this great, wicked Brussels was almost too 
much for me. My heart is still beating, I assure 
you. It gave me such a fright ! ” 

“ I am very sorry, Mrs. Webster. But it is bet- 
ter than if your heart had stopped beating, isn’t it 1 ” 
observed Hope. “ Where is Freddy now.f^ ” 

“ Oh, he has gone into the dining room, and is sit- 
ting in his place as good as gold. He asked me if 
he might. I know it isn’t very good manners for 
him to go in before the others, but just this once 
I allowed him to do it — and, after all, this formality 
at a boarding-house seems very unnecessary.” 

Presently they were all seated at the table. Mrs. 
Webster and Lois were on one side of it with 
Freddy between them, while Hope and Diana had 
places almost directly opposite. Mrs. Brently, the 
large English lady, sat next to Diana and was 
therefore opposite to Freddy, and was usually the 
victim of his most prolonged and steady stare. 
To-night he was especially good, however, and ate 
his soup slowly and decorously, with never a glance 
across the table. 

The soup plates had been removed and the fish 
had been served, when Mrs. Brently gave a loud 
exclamation of horror. Everybody looked at her 


88 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


and saw to their amazement that her plate was 
moving up and down in a very extraordinary man- 
ner. Mrs. Brently put down her fork and gazed 
helplessly about. Her plate was now fairly jump- 
ing, the knife and fork dancing with a merry clatter. 
Then all became quiet. 

“ What is it ? ” gasped Mrs. Brently, growing quite 
purple in the face. “ Did you see it ? I am afraid 
to touch it.” 

“ Some one must have been kicking the table,” 
said Miss Jonson, glancing severely at Freddy, who 
was not a favorite of hers. 

Hope also looked at him, but could discover 
nothing. He seemed to be as much interested in 
the dancing plate as were the other people at the 
table, but that was all. Mrs. Brently ’s agitation 
being somewhat allayed, she returned to her fish, 
which was particularly good to-night, and of a kind 
to which she was especially partial. After all, per- 
haps it had been owing to a sudden jarring of the 
table, though why her plate alone had suffered she 
could not understand. 

And then in a moment it began again ! Mrs. 
Brently screamed and pushed back her chair. 

“ It is not a kick ! ” she cried. “ It is something 
alive ! It is a mouse under my plate ! ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 89 

No words can describe the excitement which 
ensued. Diana tried to soothe Mrs. Brently, who 
was now in hysterics ; Mrs. Webster turned very 
white ; all the boarders rose from their chairs, 
except Freddy, who sat still and stared, with round 
eyes and solemn face. 

“Too innocent by far,” thought Hope. She 
picked up the lively plate which no one had 
thought of doing, and placed her hand upon a 
small object that was beneath the table-cloth. 
For a moment she herself fancied that it might be 
a mouse, and even her stout spirit quailed at the 
thought of touching a live mouse. Then she rallied 
her courage, turned back the table-cloth, and dis- 
closed to view a small object made of rubber and 
now perfectly flat. It was attached to a long tube, 
also of rubber, which seemed to extend under the 
table. 

“ Hope ! ” exclaimed Freddy, in angry tones, “ I 
think you are real mean! You have gone and 
spoiled everything I I was going to have lots more 
fun with it ! ” 

“ I knew you were at the bottom of it, you dread- 
ful child I ” cried Hope, while every one else turned 
to him in shocked surprise. “ Where did you get 
it, and what is it ? ” 


90 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ I got it on the Chaussee d' Ixelle s',' said Freddy. 
“ I saw it there the other day when I was with you, 
and I went and got it this afternoon. I was going 
to have some fun in this stupid old place. It was 
working splendidly, and now you have gone and 
spoiled everything, Hope! All you have to do is 
to squeeze one end, like this, and the other swells 
up and joggles things up and down. They showed 
me at the shop how to do it. There’s a man there 
who speaks English, and he told me it was an 
American invention. I thought it would be just 
the thing to frighten Mrs. Brently with when she 
was eating her fish. She is so awfully fond of her 
fish, you know.” 

By this time Mrs. Brently’s hysterics had become 
so violent that she had to be led away from the room, 
and restoratives were administered in Miss Jonson’s 
office. Mrs. Webster, very pale, and leaning upon 
Lois with one hand while she grasped Freddy with 
the other, also retired from the scene. The other 
boarders resumed their seats, and the servants, when 
they had recovered somewhat from the excitement, 
proceeded to serve dinner. Hope and Diana ate 
theirs in extreme embarrassment, wishing that the 
ground might open and swallow them up. The 
silence had become very awkward, when suddenly 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


91 


it was broken by Miss Redwood, who began to 
laugh. 

“It is quite too funny!” she exclaimed. “You 
Americans give me no end of entertainment. The 
little chap said it was an American toy I Pray tell 
me, do you often amuse yourselves in this way at 
dinner } ” 


CHAPTER FIVE. 


H OPE’S wishes for a German Christmas were 
not destined to be fulfilled. Freddy’s prank 
at the dinner table had such an effect upon his 
mother that she was ill for two weeks, with a doctor 
in attendance, which made it impossible for them 
to leave Brussels, and in order to keep their rooms 
longer they were obliged to engage them until the 
first of January. The three girls were somewhat 
dismayed by this information, which was given to 
them by Miss Jonson one morning soon after 
breakfast. 

“ Let us go out and talk it over,” said Hope. 
“ The sun is actually shining this morning, and we 
would better make the most of it.” 

“ By all means,” agreed Diana. “ Let us go out 
to the Bois^ where we can breathe freely and say 
what we like without any danger of being overheard 
in the next room.” 

“Can we all leave Mrs. Webster?” asked Lois, 
somewhat doubtfully. “ I want to go to walk, but 


92 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


93 


it seems unkind to leave her alone, and then there 
is Freddy. I suppose we ought to take him with 
us.” 

“ If he goes, I shall stay at home,” said Hope. 
“ How can we talk if he is with us } And things 
must be settled.” She stopped abruptly, and going 
to the window she drummed impatiently upon the 
window-pane. “ I am getting so cross,” she said 
to herself. “ I don’t know whether it is the Web- 
sters or the weather, but I must be careful. I shall 
be too disagreeable to live with if I don’t take care.” 

“ I think we can leave them this once,” said 
Diana; “ Mrs. Webster is better to-day, and Freddy 
is playing with the little English boy who came 
last night. He is only to be here a day, unfortu- 
nately. We really must talk over things. There is 
something else I want to consult you about.” 

“ I knew you had something on your mind, Di,” 
said Hope; “I have thought so for some time. 
Do let us hurry out before the sun disappears 
again.” 

“ Suppose we go in the tram to the Bois'' sug- 
gested Lois, “ so as to be able to take a long walk 
out there.” 

“ First or second class tram ? ” asked Hope, as 
she investigated the contents of her purse. 


94 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ Second, by all means,” replied Diana. “ The 
only difference is velvet cushions.” 

“ And as they change the cushions at the end 
of the route into the other compartment, the distinc- 
tion is really too absurd. The fine velvet cushions 
go into the part where the common people have 
been, and then back again for the rich ones on the 
next trip. And the curtains at the windows are so 
very funny — curtains in a street car! I shall never 
get used to foreign ideas. Fancy in America a car 
filled with men all seated, while the platforms are 
crowded with women standing ! It seems an excel- 
lent idea when you happen to be one of those who 
have a seat that they don’t allow passengers to 
stand inside, but it is not so nice when you chance 
to be one of those who are standing.” 

They were soon ready, and having explained to 
Mrs. Webster that they would not leave her long, 
and having provided her with books and asked the 
maid to look in upon her occasionally, they left the 
house, and presently were in the tram, speeding out 
over the broad and beautiful Avenue Louise to the 
Bois, Upon reaching the great Park they took a 
wide path through the woods. The richly colored 
trunks of the trees, kept green by the perpetual 
dampness of the weather, the dead leaves on the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


95 


ground, the reddish soil of the path, the bright blue 
sky and the golden sunshine, all combined to make 
a vivid picture. Occasionally a horseman rode 
through the woods, sometimes an officer in bright 
scarlet, his uniform glinting showily among the 
trees. Here and there an old woman in a short 
bright petticoat and a gay-colored shawl could be 
seen gathering fagots for her scanty fire. 

It was all so picturesque that for a time the girls 
forgot their anxieties and could think of nothing 
but the scene that lay about them. They walked 
arm in arm, as was their habit when walking in the 
country at home. Diana in the middle, with little 
Lois on one side of her and tall Hope on the other, 
and they stopped now and then to gaze and exclaim 
with delight. They met no one walking at that 
hour in the morning, and they could talk with per- 
fect freedom. 

“ We are losing time,” said Lois, presently. “We 
came out here to discuss things, you know.” 

“So we did,” returned Diana; “but it is so much 
more delightful to look than to discuss. Hope’s 
face was getting quite smoothed out. It has been 
dreadfully puckered up lately, Hope.” 

“Has it? I am sorry. It is horrid to have to 
look at a puckered-up face. But really, girls, I 


96 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


have been worried. I feel as if we had been wast- 
ing time by staying so long in Brussels.” 

“ I don’t see how it can be helped,” said Lois. 
“ Mrs. Webster is really not equal to a journey yet. 
I am very thankful that we can keep the rooms if 
we want to. I was afraid Miss Jonson would turn 
us all out after that affair of Freddy’s.” 

“ She would have done so if she could,” said 
Diana, “ but she can’t afford to have all our empty 
rooms on her hands. She is getting even with us by 
insisting that we shall keep them now until January.” 

Hope laughed. “ I should think she would far 
rather have us go. She had hard work to pacify 
Mrs. Brently, and all the boarders except Miss 
Redwood were in a state of intense indignation. 
No wonder! And what dreadful things they will 
always say about American children! But now, 
about leaving here. I do want to get to Munich so 
much. I think it will be much cheaper there, and, 
Di, I think you ought to have the benefit of the 
art museums.” 

“ I may as well tell you,” said Di, very quietly, 
“ that I don’t believe I am going to be able to look 
at pictures very constantly.” 

“Di, what do you mean.?” exclaimed her two 
friends. “ Are your eyes worse ? ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


97 


“ Yes, they have been a good deal worse lately. I 
shall have to rest them.” 

“ My dearest Di ! ” cried Hope ; “ and you have 
scarcely said a word about it! I thought you 
hadn’t seemed as much interested lately in going to 
look at things, but I never dreamed they were as 
bad as that. You ought to go to an oculist.” 

“ I don’t want to, here in Brussels. I don’t like 
the Belgian men, and I have asked some of the 
English people, and they tell me there is no Eng- 
lish oculist here. They advised me to wait until 
we get to Germany, and they suggested something 
that I want to consult you about. I can’t bear to 
ask you to change the plans, and I know, Hope, 
that you are so anxious to get to Munich, but — ” 

“ But what .5^ ” asked Hope, impatiently, as Diana 
paused. “As if I could possibly mind giving up 
Munich, or anything else, if it is going to do you 
any good 1 ” 

“ They tell me there are several very fine German 
oculists at Wiesbaden, the best in the world, and I 
thought if you would not mind stopping there on 
our way, we could go on to Munich later. I have 
looked it up, and I found that Wiesbaden is right 
on the direct route to Munich. What do you think 
of the plan, girls ? Should you mind very much ? ” 


H 


98 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ Of course we shouldn’t ! ” said both together. 

“ But I think we ought to go right away,” added 
Hope ; “ we ought not to lose a minute.” 

“ A few weeks won’t make any difference,” said 
Diana, “and I must write home about it. You 
know I shall have to use more money. That is the 
worst part of it all. It is going to take so much 
money to put myself under the care of a specialist.” 

“We can save it later,” said Hope, promptly. 
“We can give up some of the weeks that we 
planned to spend in Paris. Of course your eyes 
must be the first consideration. Why, Di, what 
will you do if you can’t paint } ” 

She stopped, struck by the expression of Diana’s 
face. 

“ Don’t speak of that,” said Diana, in a low, 
strained voice. “ I dare not even think of it.” 

They walked on in silence for a few minutes. 
Lois was the first to break it. 

“ You must not worry about the money, Di. 
You know I can have all I want, and there is no 
reason why I shouldn’t help you, for I have so much 
more than either of you. You must let me give it 
to you.” 

“ I couldn’t, Lois. You are a dear to offer it to 
me, but I couldn’t take it.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


99 


“ Then let me lend it,” persisted Lois. “We are 
all like sisters, and I don’t see why you can’t let me 
help you as if I were really your sister.” 

“ But you are not, you see. Perhaps I will borrow 
some — no, I won’t do it either, for I don’t think 
father would like me to. I will take it out of what 
I have for the year in Europe, and go home sooner 
if necessary. If I can’t use my eyes, it will scarcely 
be worth while for me to stay.” 

“ Oh, Di ! ” 

And then they were all very quiet again. Inti- 
mate as these three girls had been for many years, 
neither Hope nor Lois suspected the suffering, both 
mental and physical, that Diana had experienced 
during the last few weeks. Her eyes had given her 
great pain, although their appearance showed but 
little sign of any trouble, and the fear that there 
might be something really serious the matter filled 
her with anxious foreboding. Of all “ the ills that 
flesh is heir to ” there is perhaps not one that is 
more depressing to the spirits than that which 
affects the sight, for when one is unable to use the 
eyes there is little to divert the mind. 

In Diana’s case it seemed unusually hard, for her 
sole purpose in coming abroad had been to prepare 
for her future work, and if that was to be taken 

ILofC. 


100 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


from her, not only would the money have been spent 
in vain, but the disappointment would be very great. 
It was only natural that she took the darkest view 
possible of the situation. The incessant rain and 
gloomy weather were discouraging at the best of 
times, and doubly so when she was confronted by a 
great anxiety and possible calamity. Then, too, she 
was far away from home and family, and the thought 
of consulting a foreign physician was most repug- 
nant to her. All together the outlook was not cheer- 
ful, and it had been difficult at times to wear a 
brave face. It would have been better if she had 
told her friends before and had talked the matter 
over with them, but she had hesitated to distress 
them. Now, however, that circumstances had made 
it necessary, she was glad enough to unburden her 
mind. 

They decided to go to Wiesbaden and to stay 
there as long as it might be necessary. Mrs. 
Webster agreed to the new plans most willingly. 

“ I have always wanted to go to one of those Ger- 
man watering places,” said she. The girls had 
returned from their walk and had stopped in her 
room. “ It will be most interesting to drink the 
waters, and will 'do me ever so much good. I am 
so sorry about our poor, dear Diana’s eyes, but 


THREE. GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 01 

no doubt the German doctor will help her, and we 
shall all have a very good time there. I have been 
dreading Munich, for they tell me it is a cold, dis- 
agreeable place, so perhaps it will turn out well. I 
am sure 1 shall be much better for a course of the 
waters. Perhaps Freddy will find some playmates 
there. It is hard for the dear boy to be only with 
older people.” 

Hope, upon hearing this speech, abruptly left the 
room. She ran upstairs as fast as she could go, in 
her flight almost knocking down Miss Redwood, 
who stood at the top of the stairs. 

“You come up like one of your American cy- 
clones,” said the English girl. “ What idea has 
seized you now, and where are you running to ? ” 
“ I am running away from the idea,” replied Hope, 
“ and it is this : there are some people who were 
born with the belief that the world and all the 
inhabitants thereof were created solely for them. 
That is one idea. This is another: if you happen 
to have a temper, run ! Discretion is the better 
part of valor. Therefore, run before you say any- 
thing. Don’t you agree with me ? ” 

“ Rather,” said Miss Redwood. It was an 
expression that she found useful upon every occa- 


sion. 


102 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


The party started on the second day of January. 
They drove across Brussels in a dense fog, which 
continued until they had left the city many miles 
behind them. The guide-book told them that they 
were passing through a beautiful country, but for 
several hours they could see nothing. Hope’s 
spirits rose, however, when she remembered that 
they were actually on their way to something differ- 
ent. She hoped that the change would be good 
for Diana in every way, and that a more invigorat- 
ing climate, combined with the advice of a good 
oculist, would be of great benefit to her. She 
determined to banish anxiety from her mind as much 
as possible and to do what she could to enliven the 
party, each one of whom looked tired and depressed 
this gloomy morning. They had the railway 
carriage to themselves the greater part of the way, 
and she played “paper and pencil games” with 
Freddy, and told funny stories until they were all 
laughing, and merrier than would have been 
thought possible when they left Brussels. At 
Herbesthal they crossed the frontier and found 
themselves on Prussian soil. 

“ I feel better already,” said Hope, when they had 
returned to the train after the Custom House for- 
malities were over. “ I like the Germans. They 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


103 


are so big and fair-haired, and they are so much 
more patient with your ignorance than the Bel- 
gians are. I feel, too, as if we were going to save 
some money here, and that has a wonderfully cheer- 
ing effect. I am so glad you are all willing to go 
to that cheap place in Cologne for the two nights. 
They have a Christliches Hospiz, as they are called, 
in every German city, and I was told before we left 
home that they are always respectable and clean, 
and very much nicer for ladies to go to alone than 
a hotel. They are something like a Young W omen’s 
Christian Association place.” 

“ I like a hotel,” said Mrs. Webster, plaintively. 
“ They are more independent. However, I am per- 
fectly willing to save a little money. My expenses 
in Brussels, what with clothes and doctor’s bills, 
were very heavy.” 

“ I wonder how we shall get along with the lan- 
guage,” said Lois. “ It is fortunate that we can 
speak a little.” 

“ I am afraid it will not pass muster as well as our 
French,” said Diana; “but I believe that many of 
the Germans speak English, and when they do they 
are always anxious to air it, no matter how little they 
may know.” 

“ Oh, we can say a few necessary things in Ger- 


104 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


man,” said Hope; “for instance, ‘ Wo ist der Zug?' 
a most important question when travelling, and then 
we have the phrase book, you know. That will 
always help us out. I will now turn to the part 
‘ concerning lodgings,’ which is a most important 
question for us now. I can ask in four languages 
and most politely : ‘ I understand, sir, that you have 
apartments to let. Will you allow me to see them ’ 
Isn’t that very polite } ” 

“ And when the landlord answers with equal po- 
liteness and elaborate language, what are you going 
to do? Unfortunately the phrase book doesn’t give 
the reply.” 

“ Well, I shall just take it for granted that he 
said something satisfactory, and I shall then con- 
tinue ” — she paused and ran her eyes rapidly down 
the page — “ ‘ How often do you change the sheets ? ’ 
And here is the answer to that, ‘ Every fortnight, 
and your towel will be changed once a week.’ Dear 
me ! Do you suppose that is true ? Only one towel 
a week ? ” 

“ I always heard that Germans are queer about 
their washing,” said Mrs. Webster, anxiously. “ My 
dear girls, do you think we did right to come ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, indeed ! The phrase book may exag- 
gerate. But look ! the fog has lifted, or we have 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 105 

left it behind. Isn’t that view beautiful } ” And 
they forgot all such commonplace things as sheets' 
and towels in looking at the Prussian landscape. 

They arrived at Cologne shortly after four o’clock. 
It was almost dark, but as they approached the city 
they could see the spires of the Cathedral, and when 
they left the train they found that the station was 
close to it. However, they did not then stop to 
admire its beauty, but hurried along the street to the 
Christliches Hospiz. Hope and Lois had studied 
the map of Cologne, and knew exactly how to reach 
there. It seemed to be but a short distance, and 
they had decided to walk, carrying their bags, for 
they declared that they would all feel better for the 
exercise after the day spent in the train. But dis- 
tance as depicted on a map is sometimes deceptive, 
and as they walked on and on, with no sign of 
a Christliches Hospiz within sight, Mrs. Webster’s 
unwonted energy gave out. 

“ I can’t go another step,” said she, standing still 
and looking vei*y helpless, “my dear girls! You 
are all so strong you don’t in the least realize what 
it is to be an invalid. My bag is so heavy 1 ” 

“ It is because you have all those silver toilet 
articles in it,” said Hope. “ Let me carry it; and 
wouldn’t you like to take my arm } ” 


I06 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

There was a redistribution of luggage, and then 
they all walked on again, Mrs. Webster finding 
great comfort in the support of Hope’s young arm. 

“ You are so dependable, Hope dear, as I have 
maintained ever since I have known you,” she said 
sweetly. “I should like to have you with me al- 
ways. I feel that I can lean upon you with all my 
weight — and I am a woman who needs some one 
to lean upon. Some of us do, and some do not, you 
know. It is all a matter of temperament.” 

The twilight hid Hope’s face from sight, but 
her two friends could well imagine its whimsical 
expression. 

At last they reached a tall, dark-looking house 
with a steep flight of steps. Over the door was 
the welcome sign : “ Christliches Hospiz^ Hope 
dropped Mrs. Webster’s arm and ran briskly up the 
steps. Within the door, in a dark, narrow entry, 
stood two men who were talking busily, while in 
the background a third man, on a ladder, was en- 
gaged in painting the wall. 

“ Spreche7i Sie Englisch ? ” demanded Hope. 

“ Nein ! Nein ! ” was the reply. 

^^Konnen wir drei Zimmer haben ? ” 

” said the man, looking somewhat sur- 
prised. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 07 

'' Sehr wohlfeil!"'' added Hope, emphatically. 
She had taken pains to learn that phrase by heart 
for the phrase book had told her that it meant 
“ very cheap.” 

” said the man again, and he led them 
up three very unsteady flights of stairs, to the top 
of the house. He named his price, which seemed 
reasonable even to economical Hope, and then, 
having poured forth a torrent of guttural sounds 
to which the study of the phrase book had given 
no clew, he departed. 

“ What a peculiar language German is ! ” said 
Lois. “ I thought I knew a little in America, but 
it sounds so different in its own country. What 
was he saying, Hope ? ” 

“ I haven’t the remotest idea, but he looks honest. 
Well, what do you think of it here ? ” 

“ I think it is absolutely impossible,” said a voice 
from the sofa. It was Mrs. Webster’s, and she held 
a handkerchief to her eyes. “ The room is like 
a vault, it is so cold. And the darkness! The 
Brussels rooms were brilliant compared to this I 
And the furniture ! Where did you ever hear of 
such a place as this, Hope.^^ Those men looked 
astonished to see us here.” 

“ Yes, they did, I must confess,” said Diana. 


io8 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ Let US light the candles and see how it is then,” 
said Hope, valiantly. 

In a few moments three little candle flames glim- 
mered through the darkness. 

“ It’s awful ! ” said Freddy. “ Let’s go away.” 

“ Oh, by all means,” added his mother. 

“ It is pretty bad,” said Diana and Lois. 

“ But how can we get away ? ” asked Hope, quite 
distracted with this unfortunate turn of affairs. 
“We have engaged the rooms, and perhaps we 
should be made to pay for them.” 

“ Oh, no, I am sure we shouldn’t, and even if we 
should, I would rather pay for them all than stay 
here,” said Mrs. Webster. Do look in the Bae- 
deker, or your address book, Hope, and see if there 
is not a good hotel for us to go to.” 

“ Of course there are plenty of hotels,” said Hope, 
reluctantly obeying, “ but we really ought to try to 
put up with a few discomforts, I think, for the sake 
of saving some money.” 

“Hope dear,” said Diana, quietly, “the rooms 
are so cold that it really wouldn’t be safe for us 
to stay in them. You know the change in the 
weather is very great, and it wouldn’t save anything 
if we were to take cold and be ill here.” 

A word from Diana usually had the effect of 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


109 


quieting Hope’s economical scruples, so she studied 
her Baedeker, and presently announced that the 
Continental Hotel was said to be reasonable, and 
good, and that it was not far from the Cathedral. 

“ It is exactly where we have just come from,” 
said she. “We have got to walk back over the 
same route. If you all think alike, of course I 
must agree, but do you really think it is impossible 
to stay here ? ” 

“ Impossible ! ” they replied, with one voice, and, 
seizing their luggage, they started for the stairs. 
Arrived at the street floor, after a rapid and some- 
what perilous descent (Hope’s heel caught at the 
top of one flight and she narrowly escaped falling 
headlong), they looked for the men whom they had 
seen upon their arrival. The two proprietors had 
disappeared and only the painter remained. Hope 
approached him. 

“ Wo ist der Mann ? ” she asked. 

He received her question in stony silence, and 
continued to paint. Hope looked helplessly at her 
friends. 

“ What shall we do ? ” 

“ Let us run ! ” said Diana. 

“They might catch us and put us in prison,” 
suggested Lois. 


1 10 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“A German prison!” cried Mrs. Webster. “It 
would be something very dreadful.” 

“ I don’t want to go to prison,” wailed Freddy. 

“ It couldn’t be any worse than this,” said Hope, 
now as eager to depart as any of them. Then her 
eyes fell upon a door marked “ Kuchr “ I think 
that means ‘ kitchen,’ but I am not sure. Every 
German word I ever knew seems to have left me.” 

She knocked boldly on the door, and it was 
opened immediately by a woman. 

“ Wir gehen^' Hope. 

The woman, whose face was kind, nodded ac- 
quiescence, and then asked something which they 
did not understand. She then made signs of scrub- 
ing her face, and then she rubbed her hands vigor- 
ously, as if applying unlimited soap and water. 

“ Have we bathed ? ” cried Hope. “ Nein ! nein ! 
Wir haben nicht bathed ! ” 

Gute7i Abend!'' said the woman. They were 
free ! 

They hurried out the door and up the street, 
trembling even yet lest the two men who had 
received them should return and discover their 
flight. At intervals they were obliged to stop, set- 
ting their luggage on the ground to rest their weary 
arms, and actually looking back to see if the men 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


Ill 


were in pursuit, but at last they reached the safe 
haven of the Hotel Continental. There, electric 
lights, an elevator, and steam-heated rooms, all at 
a very moderate price, to say nothing of English- 
speaking landlord and waiters, quite repaid them for 
their fatigue. 

“I told you so!” said Mrs. Webster, looking at 
Hope with a mixture of triumph and reproach in 
her glance ; “ there is nothing like a hotel. I have 
always said so, and I always shall.” 

And Hope was so well pleased herself with their 
new surroundings that she agreed with her most 
amiably; and although each one of them found 
upon investigation that she was decorated with 
splashes of white paint from the walls of the Christ- 
liches Hospiz, they all bore it with equanimity, and 
said gayly to one another: “Never mind I All’s 
well that ends well.” 


CHAPTER SIX. 



HE day spent in Cologne was so delightful, 


A so unmarred by any drawback to their enjoy- 
ment, that it remained in the girls’ memory always 
as one of the “ red-letter days ” of their European 
trip. The air was cold and invigorating, and the 
sun shone gloriously upon the old city which had 
seen the rising and setting of so many suns since it 
was founded by the Romans away back in the year 


38 B.C. 


Hope, Lois, and Diana were indefatigable, and 
even Mrs. Webster shared their energy and enthu- 
siasm, while Freddy, always interested in new scenes, 
was no hindrance to their pleasure. The wonderful 
Cathedral filled them with awed delight, and as the 
girls gazed upon its stately towers and portals, its 
magnificent stained glass and exquisite detail of 
workmanship, they felt that surely there could not 
be a more beautiful Gothic building in the world. 

There were other churches, too, to look at and 
explore, as well as the Museum with its pictures, 


12 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 13 

and the thousand things of interest in the streets. 
This was their first view of a German city, and the 
contrast to Brussels was very marked. Not the 
least fascinating sight to Hope was the bridge over 
the Rhine. The last time she went to it was by 
moonlight, and Diana was with her. The lights of 
the city gleaming far and near, close at hand the 
Cathedral, the dark waters of the Rhine, and above 
all the moon shining down upon them, — that same 
moon that had shed its light upon the ancient river 
during all these long centuries, — made a scene of 
indescribable and mystic beauty which they never 
forgot. 

“ Even though I can never do anything with my eyes 
again,” said Diana, solemnly, “ even — even, Hope, if I 
have to give up my work, I shall have this memory.” 

“Di! You unable to paint! You, whose eyes 
have always seen so much that is beautiful, and who 
appreciate beauty more than any of us I It cannot 
be that you must give it all up I I can’t have it so.” 
Hope turned away in an agony of rebellion. “ I 
would rather have had it come to me. My eyes are 
of no account, I don’t see things as you do.” 

But your books, dear,” said Diana, as she 
slipped her hand through Hope’s arm, “ the books 
that you are going to write. They will be of more 


1 14 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

use, perhaps, than the pictures that I was going to 
paint, so my eyes must be taken and yours left. I 
don’t think that I am really going to lose my sight, 
but I am sure there is some serious trouble.” 

“ Oh, we don’t know,” said Hope, striving to speak 
cheerfully though her own eyes were full of tears ; 
“you may be — you are going to be — completely 
cured in Wiesbaden.” 

The following day they left Cologne, and took the 
journey up the Rhine to Wiesbaden. It was another 
clear day, but very cold, and when the travellers were 
seated in the compartment of a railway carriage, 
which again they had the good fortune to have 
to themselves, they found to their dismay that 
the windows were thickly coated with ice. It was 
as impossible to see through them as though they 
had been draped with heavy curtains. 

“What shall we do.?” cried Mrs. Webster. 
“ Can’t we call the conductor and ask him to — ” 

“ Melt the frost .? ” put in Hope. “ We couldn’t 
say it in German, for it is a predicament not pro- 
vided for in the phrase book. And he isn’t a 
conductor, he’s a guard.” She was scraping the 
window-pane vigorously as she spoke. “ There ! ” 
she continued ; “ I have made a little hole just big 
enough for one eye to peer through. If we all set 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 1 1 5 

to work and keep at it we shall be able to see some- 
thing.” 

It was necessary to “ keep at it,” for it froze up 
immediately if they relaxed their vigilance for an 
instant, but by dint of hard work they preserved the 
clear spaces, and later, when the sun’s rays became 
stronger, it was less difficult. The railway runs 
close to the river’s bank, and as they journeyed, 
Hope, guide-book in hand, told them as quickly as 
possible the legends attached to the ruined castles 
and the old towns near which they passed. 

They saw the “ Lurlei,” the massive rocks in the 
middle of the river where in ancient times the 
beautiful golden-haired fairy was supposed to dwell 
who enticed fishermen and sailors to their destruc- 
tion in the rapids at the foot of the precipice. 
Who does not know Heine’s ballad of “ The 
Lorelei ” } And then they were passing the 
famous “ Mouse-tower ” which, built on a rock, also 
in the middle of the Rhine, was said to be the 
refuge of the cruel Archbishop Hatto, who, having 
burned up the poor people like mice in a barn, 
during a famine, was himself attacked by mice, 
which followed him to this tower and devoured 
him. Nowadays, alas! the stern historian picks 
flaws in all of our old legends, and disturbs the 


Il6 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

fanciful pictures which have descended to us 
through the centuries from a less practical age, 
but when we are travelling up the Rhine we can 
afford to cast aside the shackles of exact prose and 
give ourselves up to the delights of poetry and 
imagination. 

They arrived at Wiesbaden early in the after- 
noon, and by supper-time that night they were 
established in an Anglo-German pension. It was 
not “ the season ” at Wiesbaden, and although there 
are always many visitors in the place from all parts 
of the world, it was not as difficult to find lodgings 
as it would have been in May. 

“ I shall never get used to dining in the middle 
of the day,” said Mrs. Webster, “ but still I suppose 
it is just as well to conform to the customs of the 
country.” 

They had come upstairs from supper on the first 
evening and were sitting in the girls’ large room. 

“ Particularly as we should have to starve if we 
didn’t,” laughed Hope. “ So that is a German 
stove,” she continued meditatively, gazing at a 
colossal object of dark green that reared its lofty 
height on one side of the room. “ All my life I 
have heard of German stoves, and now here is one 
at last. It looks like a cathedral at least.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. \\J 

“ It looks more like a monument in a cemetery,” 
said Mrs. Webster, mournfully. “ I know if I wake 
up in the night I shall think it is one.” 

“ There is a tiny fire in the lower part,” said Lois, 
investigating it, “ and that heats the thing all the 
way up. Isn’t it extraordinary ? ” 

“ What is that noise ” asked Mrs. Webster. 

They all stopped talking for an instant and 
listened. In the next room there had arisen a con- 
fused chattering of voices, so shrill and loud that 
the noise penetrated the heavy curtain which hung 
over the door between. 

“ It must be the Russian lady,” said Diana. “ Did 
you see her at the other end of the table } ” 

“ Yes. The woman with the thin face and frowsy 
hair and those piercing black eyes,” said Hope. 
“ She is so foreign-looking, and so excitable.” 

“ That little girl is hers,” said Lois. “ She looks 
like a model of propriety. She speaks four lan- 
guages.” 

“ Whew ! ” whistled Freddy. “ What are they } ” 

“ French, German, English, and Russian.” 

“ She must be a terror,” said Freddy. “ I say, 
mother, I wish there were some boys here. I wish 
you wouldn’t always go to places where there are 
nothing but girls.” 


Il8 THREE GIRLS OF HA ZELMERE. 

“ Freddy dear, it is too bad ! Perhaps we shall get 
to know some boys here in Wiesbaden. It is hard 
for you, dear ! Perhaps one of the girls will play a 
game with you, dearest, or I will. We will draw lots.” 

The girls laughed, and the slips were arranged. 
As usual Hope drew the longest, and sat down to a 
game of Lotto, which game she particularly disliked. 

The next morning early they all started forth 
to view the town. That portion of it in which the 
Villa Rosa was situated (which was the name of 
their pe7isioii) was not unlike one of their own 
suburban towns at home, the houses standing apart 
from one another and some of them having a bit of 
land about them. A short walk down a steep hill 
brought them to the Taunus Strasse^ a wide street 
with good shops, which in turn ran into the Wil- 
helm Slrasse, the chief street of Wiesbaden. 

“ That must be the Kurhaus,” said Lois, pointing 
out in the distance a large building which stood in 
a park far back from the street. “ That is where 
every one goes to read the papers and listen to the 
music. They have two concerts a day, and the nice 
English lady who was taking her tea this morning 
when we had our coffee said that every one goes 
there. You subscribe so much and that entitles you 
to everything. What do you think of our doing it? ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. II9 

“ By all means,” said Mrs. Webster. 

Hope hesitated. “ Suppose we wait and see how 
long we shall probably stay here,” said she, with a 
glance at Diana. 

“ I suppose that would be wiser,” said Diana. 
“ After I have been to the oculist to-day we can tell.” 

She spoke quietly, but she was very nervous. So 
much depended upon this visit to the doctor. It had 
been decided among the girls that she should ask 
Mrs. Webster to go with her. This arrangement 
rnade it still harder for Diana, for she would have 
preferred to have either Hope or Lois, but they 
agreed that it would be more proper for her to go 
with Mrs. Webster, and at eleven o’clock the visit 
was to be paid. 

They were all standing quite still on the sidewalk 
of the Wilhelm Strasse when Freddy, who had been 
gazing at the wonders displayed in a shop window 
and then as aimlessly glancing up and down the 
street, suddenly gave an exclamation of surprise and 
delight. Without stopping to explain, he dashed 
across the broad avenue, and entering the Kurhaus 
grounds, ran at full speed toward the building. 

“ What is it ? ” cried Mrs. Webster. “ Girls, he is 
running away ! Please, please go after him ! ” 

Hope and Lois ran, while Diana and Mrs. Web- 


120 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


star followed more slowly. “ I am trembling so I 
can scarcely move,” said his mother. “ Do let us 
sit down for a moment — but there is no place to sit, 
is there And besides, we must follow Freddy.” 

In the meantime the others, in quick pursuit, saw 
that the boy had stopped and was talking with some 
one. 

“Who can it be ” asked Lois as they halted. 
“ Was there ever such a boy 1 ” 

“ It is some one who looks oddly familiar,” said 
Hope. By this time Freddy and the stranger had 
turned and were walking quickly toward them. 
“ Why, Lois, it is Reginald Manning ! ” 

“ Of all the lucky things ! ” exclaimed Reginald, 
hurrying toward them with outstretched hands ; “ I 
never was so glad to see anybody in my life ! We 
thought you were in Munich by this time.” 

“ And we thought you were in Paris,” said the 
two girls, while Freddy danced about them, hopping 
first on one foot and then on the other, to give 
expression to his joy. 

“ My, but I’m glad you’re here ! ” he cried. “ Noth- 
ing but girls, girls, girls, everywhere ! ” Then he 
tore back to tell his mother of his discovery. “ You 
never would have seen him if it hadn’t been for 
me ! ” he declared triumphantly. “ I saw him, and I 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


121 


just cut and run. In another minute he would 
have been gone.” And Mrs. Webster was so glad 
to find that the Mannings were in Wiesbaden that 
she soon recovered from the effects of Freddy’s flight. 

It seemed that neither Mrs. Manning nor Regi- 
nald had been particularly well in Paris, and Mrs. 
Manning had been advised to try a course of the 
waters at Wiesbaden for the neuralgia from which 
she was a constant sufferer. They had been there 
for about two weeks, and already she was better. 
Reginald told all this as quickly as possible. 

“ It is too cold for you to stand,” said he. 
“ Mother is coming to the Kurhaus later, so can’t 
you come in there ? Have you subscribed yet ? ” 

“We only got here yesterday,” said Hope, “and 
we don’t yet know how long we are going to stay. 
It depends on — circumstances.” She abruptly 
changed the ending of her sentence. 

“ It depends on my eyes,” said Diana. “ I have 
been having trouble with them, and we came here 
for me to see an oculist. The others have had to 
change all their plans on my account. Mrs. Web- 
ster and I are going to his office now. Couldn’t 
Hope and Lois go see your mother while we are 
there } ” 

Reginald’s expressive face showed his concern 


122 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


and sympathy, but he had tact enough not to ask 
any questions then. He turned the subject by sug- 
gesting that they should all walk together as far as 
the doctor’s house and perhaps meet his mother on 
her way to the Kurhaus. There was much to talk 
about in their varied experiences since they had 
parted on the steamer at Antwerp, and they 
walked through the park in a bunch, all talking 
and laughing. People of every nation turned to 
look at them. Amerikanerinen said the stout 
Germans, stolidly. Les Americaines !"' said a 
Frenchman, with an inimitable gesture. “Ameri- 
can ! ” said an Englishman. “ They are always 
talking.” 

Hope felt an indescribable lightening of her heart. 
With Mrs. Manning within reach she knew that she 
had some one upon whose sound advice she could 
rely if matters turned out badly with Diana. Her 
anxiety about her friend was very great, and Mrs. 
Webster was but a feeble reed to lean upon, al- 
though Hope had grown fond of her. There was a 
charm about her in spite of her undeniable selfish- 
ness. Mrs. Manning was so motherly, so wise and 
tactful, that the girls felt instinctively that they could 
appeal to her in any difficulty that might arise, and 
that her counsel could always be trusted. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 123 

They left Mrs. Webster and Diana at the door of 
the oculist, and as it closed behind them Hope 
turned away with an exclamation of impatience. 

“ It does seem dreadful that this had to be, ” said 
she. “ Think of our coming abroad with all these 
plans for self-improvement, Diana thinking of noth- 
ing but to work in the end. It isn’t as if we had 
come only for pleasure. Other people come for that 
alone, and all goes smoothly from beginning to end. 
They have plenty of money, see everything, go 
home, and come again whenever they want to. 
This is probably the only trip that Diana will have 
over here for years, if she is ever able to come again ; 
and look at her ! Think of her ! All the pain she 
has had almost ever since she got here, and this 
terrible anxiety.” 

“ Tell me about it,” said Reginald. “ I didn’t like 
to ask while Miss Stuart was with us.” 

“Oh, don’t talk about that!” exclaimed Freddy, 
who was skipping along beside him. “ Now that a 
feller’s come, do let a feller have some fun.” 

“ You shut up, youngster I ” said Reginald, good- 
naturedly ; “ your turn will come later. I want to 
talk to the girls if you don’t, and I want to know 
about Miss Stuart’s eyes.” 

Presently they met Mrs. Manning, who of course 


124 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

was surprised and delighted to see them, and then 
she turned back with the girls to her pension^ and 
Reginald and Freddy went off together. They did 
not stay there long, however, for both girls felt a 
nervous impatience to hear the result of Diana’s 
visit, and they soon went back to their own rooms 
in order to be there when she should come in. Lois 
embroidered, and Hope made a pretence of writing 
letters, but most of the time she sat staring into 
space with her pen in her hand. 

“ I wish we had stayed out of doors,” she said at 
last. “ This room is so dark and that big stove is 
so gloomy. Wiesbaden looks like a cheerful place 
out of doors, for the sun seems able to shine here 
as it couldn’t in Brussels, and the great spaces and 
parks and all sorts of open places make it bright 
and breathable.” 

“ That is a new word,” said Lois. “ This room 
isn’t very breathable.” 

“ No. That piazza roof over the window makes it 
so dark, and this dismal stove and the heavy furniture 
are so depressing. However, I like it here so far, 
and if only Di’s eyes are not as bad as we fear, I 
shall not be sorry we had to come here. It is so 
nice to see the Mannings again. I wish we could 
keep with them. I think they would like it, too.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 125 

“ Perhaps we should see Sir Galahad.” 

Hope glanced sharply at Lois, who was calmly 
choosing her shades of silk. 

“ Yes, but I doubt it. He must be hard at work 
at the hospital. Of the two sons I think I would 
rather have Reggie with us. He is such a natural 
sort of a boy ; no affectation, no pretence of being 
any older than he is, like so many boys of that age.” 

“ I don’t think there is any affectation about 
Arthur. If there had been we shouldn’t have given 
him the name of Sir Galahad.” 

“ No, that is true ; but as he is older we can’t be 
as much at home with him as we are with Reggie. 
We treat him as we do Freddy.” Hope stopped 
to laugh at her own speech, and then added: 
“ Fortunately, we don’t have to draw lots to see 
which of us shall play some tiresome game with 
him ; neither do we suddenly have to take to our 
heels and run madly through the streets of a strange 
city to catch him. I am thankful to feel that there 
is only one Freddy in our party. I trust there is 
but one of the kind in the world. Oh, Lois, will 
Di never come ? I feel as if I couldn’t wait another 
minute.” 

“ If you only would do some kind of work, Hope. 
It is so calming.” 


26 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ It wouldn’t calm me ! If I felt that I had to 
match those shades, and take stitches just so long 
and in just such a direction, no more and no less, 
and keep the silk smooth and neat, I should roll 
the whole thing up in a bunch and stuff it into the 
stove. The best use it could be put to, for perhaps it 
would brisk up this lazy old fire. Ah, here they are ! ” 

The door opened, and Mrs. Webster and Diana 
came into the room. 

“Where is Freddy were his mother’s first 
words. 

“ Off with Reggie Manning. Diana } ” 

“ Cheer up,” said Diana, smiling. “ It isn’t as bad 
as we feared.” 

“ Di ! Are you all right ? ” 

“ Not quite all right; but I am not going to lose 
my sight.” 

“ Oh, no ! ” said Mrs. Webster. “ For my part, I 
never thought you were. You all persisted so in 
looking at the darkest side of it. Plenty of people 
have trouble wdth their eyes. I have had pain in 
them myself.” 

“ No doubt,” said Hope. “ You have had pain in 
every part of you, I should think, from what you 
have told me. But will one of you please tell us 
what the doctor said } ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 27 

“ There is inflammation of the membrane and 
trouble with the nerves, and he gave it all sorts of 
long names,” said Diana. “ Fortunately, he speaks 
English as well as we do, and he is very nice. I 
feel that he can be depended upon, don’t you, Mrs. 
Webster 

“ Perfectly, and I am an excellent judge of char- 
acter. But we shall have to stay here for some 
time. However, I don’t altogether mind that, for 
with the Mannings here, and the Kurhaus, and the 
waters — ” 

“But what else did he say.^^” asked Hope, 
interrupting her. 

“ He said that they must be treated for a few 
weeks,” replied Diana, “ and later he can tell better 
what I must do. For the present I must not use 
them in any way, and must be out of doors as 
much as possible. No painting, no looking closely 
at things, no reading or writing. I am to go to him 
for treatment, and perhaps in the end I shall have to 
wear glasses.” 

“ Diana ! ” 

Both girls gazed at her, round-eyed and regretful. 

“ Oh, that isn’t so bad,” said Diana, cheerfully. 
“ Lots of people wear glasses, and just think how 
much worse it would be if he had told me I should 


128 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


become blind some day, or would have to have an 
operation, or some dreadful thing like that. Now, 
don’t worry, girls. Just let us have a good time 
here in Wiesbaden. It is an attractive place, and 
we are all going to subscribe at the Kurhaus and 
get our fill of music, and have a good time generally, 
aren’t we, Mrs. Webster.?^ We have decided it all 
on our way home from the doctor’s.” 

They talked gayly for a little while. Mrs. 
Webster described the long waiting in the oculist’s 
reception room before they could see the famous 
man, and the odd-looking people who had waited 
there with them before their turn came to pass into 
the inner oifice. Then she went to her own room, 
and after a few minutes Diana also rose. 

“ I am going to my little room for a while,” said 
she ; “ and, girls, I am tired and want to rest a little. 
We shall probably be doing a good deal this after- 
noon, so I will shut the door between and lie down.” 

And when the door was shut and she heard the 
murmur of voices on the other side and knew that 
the girls were talking, cheered by the news she had 
given them, she threw herself on the bed in a 
misery of silent tears. Was this what she had 
dreamed of and saved for.^^ Was this to be the only 
result of her trip to Europe? Was there no way 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 129 

out of the trouble ? For the oculist had told her 
very frankly that it might be years before she would 
be able to use her eyes for painting, and even that 
was doubtful. 

“ They are extremely sensitive eyes,” said he. 
“ Y ou have needed spectacles for a long time, and 
the strain has been ferry great. Time and much pa- 
tience may gif you help, but it will be a long time.” 

Diana had made Mrs. Webster promise not to tell 
this. “ I can bear it better if no one else knows it,” 
said she. And now, alone in her little room, she 
fought the battle that in one form or another comes 
to so many in their journey through life. 


K 


CHAPTER SEVEN. 


I T was a cold day, but the sun shone brightly. In 
the Kurpark the frozen lake was covered with 
men, women, and children, skating to the gay strains 
of a band of music that was stationed in a pavilion 
on the bank. Spectators thronged the broad walks, 
spectators from every nation on the face of the earth, 
the men in their fur-lined coats and fur caps, the 
women in heavy cloaks, the children in garments of 
bright colors. There were invalids in their rolling- 
chairs, pushed hither by their attendants to watch 
the animated scene, and gazing contentedly at their 
more fortunate fellow-beings. There were rich and 
poor, high and low, Russian princes, German phi- 
losophers, English tourists, American sightseers ; 
men who looked like anarchists, who no doubt were 
peaceful and law-abiding citizens, and others with 
innocent countenances, who perhaps were plotting 
dreadful deeds, — there they all were, walking about 
or standing still to watch the merry skaters, who 
darted hither and thither on the ice, cutting figures 
and performing prodigious feats of skill. 


130 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 131 

The sky was blue, there was a bluish tinge to 
the ice, and to the light snow that covered the trees, 
while their trunks were of a vivid green. In the 
distance woodmen were lopping off some branches, 
which fell crashing to the ground, and above the 
sound of that, and of the humming of the myriads 
of skates that cut the ice, and the din of laughter 
and conversation in all the languages known to 
Europe, rose the strains of “ The Washington^ Post.” 

“ Isn’t it exciting to hear that away off here ! ” 
said Hope. “ I feel almost as much thrilled as if it 
were ‘The Star-spangled Banner’ itself. Oh, what 
fun this is ! ” 

They were all on the ice, Mrs. Webster, the three 
girls, Reginald, and Freddy, and with them was a 
young Englishman with whom Reginald had be- 
come acquainted. His name was Harold Edward 
Cecil Beauchamp, and he was a tall, good-looking 
youth of twenty, with an open face and honest blue 
eyes, and a newly born, but none the less genuine, 
admiration for all things American, especially Ameri- 
can girls. He had never been away from his island 
before, and he was greatly surprised to find that so 
much that was good could exist be;yond its limits. 

“ My word ! But you did that jolly well ! ” he 
exclaimed, as the three girls, with their arms inter- 


132 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

twined, curved and glided round about and in and 
out, inclining now this way and now that, with an 
indescribable grace. The three had skated together 
winter after winter on the pond at home, and there 
was no end to the wonderful figures which they 
could perform on the ice. 

Naturally, their skill appealed very strongly to 
the sport-loving young Englishman. He had not 
yet been able to decide which of the three girls he 
most admired. Miss Putnam was the prettiest — of 
that there was no doubt. And she was also the 
easiest of comprehension. She usually said what 
she meant, no more and no less, which was a source 
of great satisfaction to him. Miss Stuart was very 
handsome, and a certain expression in her face made 
her really beautiful. She was very stately, and in 
that she reminded him of English girls, with their 
slow, quiet movements, and their high-bred air of 
repose. And then there was Miss Conway. She 
was not exactly pretty, and yet who could look at 
her bright, whimsical face, over which the varying 
expressions chased one another with every passing 
emotion, without wishing to look again ? 

“ I give you my word,” said he to Reginald, as 
they stood apart on the ice, “ I never know what 
Miss Conway is going to say next, nor what she 



HE HAD NOT YET BEEN ABLE TO DECIDE WHICH OF THE 
THREE GIRLS HE MOST ADMIRED. 







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THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 133 

means when she says it. And she’s so awfully 
clever, you know ! Fancy one of my sisters taking 
charge of a party of tourists like this, and travelling 
on the Continent, don’t you know, and keeping the 
accounts ! And there is nothing those girls can’t 
do in the open. I have always supposed that it was 
only we English who cared for sports, but they tell 
me that in the States not only do they play tennis 
and golf, but even cricket, and your American game 
of baseball.” 

“ Oh, yes,” said Reginald, “ and American girls 
can sail their own boats, drive, ride, play polo ; in 
fact, they are good for any old game that comes 
along.” 

The English boy stared. “ Do you mean that 
young women play on the polo teams ? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, well, not that exactly, but they play among 
themselves sometimes. Not every one, of course. 
But I’ll tell you this, old fellow! Whatever she 
does, from cooking to cricket, the American girl 
does well I Hoop-la I Three cheers for the con- 
querors of the world!” 

“ What have you two been discussing ? ” asked 
Hope, wheeling up to them. “ I hope Reggie hasn’t 
been waving the stars and stripes in your face, Mr. 
Beauchamp ? ” 


134 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Oh-, no, Miss Conway ! He hasn’t a bit of a flag 
about him,” returned the boy, quite seriously; and 
then he wondered all the rest of the afternoon what 
he had said that seemed to amuse them — for he 
was quite sure that they were amused, although they 
had suppressed their laughter almost immediately. 
He knew that it was some joke upon him. 

“ Mrs. Manning has asked us all to come to her 
rooms for a cup of tea,” continued Hope. “ There 
is to be no concert this afternoon. Once a month 
they omit it, I believe. We are going to skate a 
little while longer, and then meet there.” And off 
she went again, followed by young Beauchamp, 
while Reginald joined the other girls. 

They had been in Wiesbaden about two weeks. 
Diana went frequently to the oculist and was wear- 
ing her new glasses, but her eyes as yet had shown 
but little improvement. However, it was not to be 
expected that they would be cured at once. Of the 
large hole that these visits to oculist and optician 
were making in her purse she dared not think. The 
doctor urged her to be out of doors as much as 
possible, and as the continued cold made skating 
excellent, every afternoon was spent on the lake. 
The concert in the Kurhaus began at four o’clock, 
and at that hour those who preferred to listen to the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 135 

music went in, while the others skated until they 
were tired and then followed them. The Mannings 
and young Beauchamp were with the Hazelmere 
party most of the time, and all that was done in the 
way of sight-seeing or amusement they did together. 
It was a wholesome, happy life, and had it not been 
for the anxiety about Diana, it would have been 
wholly enjoyable. Except for that, no one regretted 
the unexpected visit in Wiesbaden, for it gave them 
a glimpse of life at a German “ cure ” that they 
would not otherwise have had. 

“ I hope I have enough cups and saucers to go 
around,” said Mrs. Manning when, a little later in the 
afternoon, they had all gathered in her room, hun- 
gry after their sport. “ Fraulein Messer has lent me 
some, and I have a few that I carry about with me. 
And now I have a surprise for you ! We are going 
to have some cbffee. I bought a biggin this morn- 
ing, and Reggie is going to make the coffee.” 

“ At last I shall see a Kaffee-Klatsch'' said 
Hope. “ I have been longing ever since I left 
home to go to one, but we don’t seem to become 
sufficiently intimate with the natives to be invited 
to their gatherings.” 

“ What is a Kaffee-Klatsch ? ” asked Reginald, 
“ Kaffee explains itself, but what is Klatsch ? ” 


136 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“You all sit around and talk and gossip ; that is 
the Klatsch, It is an afternoon coffee, instead of an 
afternoon tea. They always do it in German novels, 
and the guest of honor sits on the sofa. German 
ladies, when they wish to be polite, always ask you 
to sit on the sofa, and if there is a married lady 
present, it would be considered the height of rudeness 
to give her a mere chair while an unmarried one sat 
on the sofa.” 

“ Hope knows so much,” said Diana. “ Where 
does she pick it all up ” 

“ I know that Reggie’s coffee smells good,” said 
Hope. “ What fun it is to picnic with an alcohol 
lamp and all these fixings ! Ever so much nicer 
than a set tea-table. I suppose Mr. Beauchamp is 
going to take tea.” 

“ Oh, yes ! ” said he. “ I always do, you know.” 

“ Benighted boy, never to take coffee ! But at 
least you will have a slice of lemon in it ? ” 

“ Oh, no, not by any means.” 

“ Y ou look quite frightened at the mere sug- 
gestion. Have you ever tried it? ” 

“ No. Why should I ? I like my tea as I have 
always had it. Why should I change ? ” 

“ Why, indeed ? ” said Hope, looking at him pen- 
sively. “ I suppose that is just the difference 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 37 

between the Englishman and the American. The 
Englishman takes things as he has always had them, 
and is satisfied. The American is ever seeking 
to improve what he has. But I suppose you can’t 
deny that it is an English proverb which says, 

‘ There is always room for improvement ’ } ” 

“ I thought you were going to say, ‘ There is 
always room at the top,’ and I was all ready to 
tell you that that is essentially American,” said 
Reginald. 

“ But do you never vary in anything, Mr. Beau- 
champ? ” asked Hope. Do you do everything just 
exactly as your father and grandfather and great- 
grandfather did it ? ” 

“ Exactly,” replied the young man, “ or as nearly 
like it as we can.” 

“ How fearfully monotonous ! And what would 
become of the world’s improvement if we all felt 
that way? If every one were perfectly satisfied 
with things as they are? But there is one thing, 
Mr. Beauchamp, that I have been wanting to ask 
you. Why, when your name from its spelling 
should be pronounced ‘ Boshomp,’ do you call it 
‘ Beechum ’ ? ” 

“ I suppose because we have always done so,^ he 
replied seriously. “ Why shouldn’t we ? My word ! 


138 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

What have I said now ? There is no end to your 
American jokes.” 

When the laughter had subsided, Reginald an- 
nounced that the coffee was done. 

In the meantime Freddy Webster had been left 
to his own resources. He was allowed more freedom 
in Wiesbaden than had been the case in Brussels. 
It was a much smaller city and of a totally different 
kind from the Belgian capital, and even if the boy 
were to get lost, which was not likely, the Germans 
are a kind and friendly race, and he would be well 
treated and helped to find his friends. Besides 
which, German civic affairs are managed with such 
military precision and clock-like regularity that it 
would be impossible for Freddy to go very far 
wrong. 

On this particular day he had told his mother 
that he would skate a little longer and then go back 
to their J)enszo7i. 

“ I don’t want any old tea,” said he, “ and Reggie’s 
no good when the girls are around. I’ll have some 
fun here by myself.” So his mother departed, and 
he was left to his own devices. 

The first thing that he did when his friends were 
out of sight was to remove his skates and hurry to 
another pond, still in the Kurpark, but in that part 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 39 

of the grounds that was near the Wilhelm Strasse. 
This pond was free to all comers, while on the lake 
where he had spent the afternoon only those were 
admitted who had subscribed at the Kurhaus. 
Freddy’s democratic spirit had a longing" for “ the 
masses.” He had watched the small boys who 
went to and from school every day with their knap- 
sacks on their shoulders, for in Germany they even 
carry their first readers in knapsacks. Freddy had 
watched them, and he longed to be one of them. 
His soul was fired with martial ardor just now, and 
his fourth great ambition began to take shape. 

He would be a soldier ! He had once fancied in 
the old days at home that the career of a newsboy 
would be desirable. There was a zest, an excite- 
ment about a life that seemed to consist in swing- 
ing on and off swiftly moving trolley cars, that 
appealed to him. Then, too, it would be a pleasure 
to shout into people’s ears, in a high cracked voice : 
“ Papes ! Papes ! Full account of the great fire.” 
Or it might be a murder or an election that must 
be announced. He had also at one time wished to 
be a car conductor. To gather five-cent pieces all 
daylong and jingle them richly in one’s pocket, and, 
above all, to ring that fascinating bell for every fare, 
would be an immense source of pleasure. 


140 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


Latterly, however, his fancy had wandered to 
Washington. He, Frederic Wade Webster, might 
one day figure in the school histories as President 
of the United States. Why not Any American 
boy might eventually get to the White House. 
This profession still attracted him, and the fact that 
he now wished to be a soldier did not interfere with 
it. Indeed, it might help him to attain the desired 
end. It would not be the first time that a military 
man had been called to rule the nation, and General 
Webster was a title that sounded well. He threw 
back his shoulders as he thought these things, and 
strutted through the park just as the small German 
boys strutted, only he wore no cape as they did. 
At home he would have scorned a cape and called 
it a girl’s ; no self-respecting American boy of nine 
would be seen in a cape, but in Germany one’s stand- 
ards change. He wished now that he had one, as 
he stopped on the bank to buckle on his skates. 

This pond was as crowded as the other had been, 
but with a different class of people. There were 
boys here of all ages, and they were having quite as 
good a time as those on the lake, who had paid for 
the privilege and who had a band of music to en- 
liven them. They stared at Freddy when he joined 
them. He, with his hands in his pockets, circled 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 14 1 

about and pretended to be unconscious of their 
presence. They gathered in a group and made 
remarks about him. He was quite sure that they 
were about him, for he heard ''Das Kind Ameri- 
kaner!'' " Der kleine Knabe Amerika^ier ! He 
had picked up a little German, but he could not 
understand the torrent of words that followed. 

These boys did not seem to like his coming, for 
even though Freddy could not understand what 
they said, their gestures and the expression of their 
faces were perfectly intelligible. He determined to 
impress them. 

He began with a mild " figure 8 ” on the ice 
which grew smaller and smaller. Then, with his 
hands in his pockets, he performed other feats which 
he had learned that very afternoon from Reginald. 
He would show these self-satisfied Germans what 
he could do, he said to himself. They would soon 
be forced to acknowledge that America led the 
world ; and he skated wildly around and around, 
growing dizzier and dizzier with every turn, until — 
Crash! Bang! Freddy saw. stars spinning through 
space, and found that he was flat on his back, while 
a crowd of German boys gathered about him, howl- 
ing, jeering, laughing, pointing, and pouring forth a 
torrent of gutturals over his prostrate form. 


142 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


He did not know what they were saying, — that 
they were telling him in their own way that it 
served him right, that he had no business to tres- 
pass on their pond, that he was a rich Amerikaner 
who, with money in his pockets, had been skating all 
the afternoon on the lake of the wealthy and the high- 
born, and therefore had no right to be here on the 
pond of the poor and the free, — but he realized that 
the sooner he removed himself from among them, 
the better it would be for him. 

He did not say a word, but sat up and 
unbuckled his skates. Then he rose to his feet. 
He was a small boy for his age, and the Germans 
are a stalwart race. They were all bigger than he 
was, but Freddy’s spirit never quailed. He looked 
from one to the other of them, gathered as they 
were in a compact mass on all sides of him. 

“ You’re a lot of cowards ! ” said he. “ You are 
great big bullies ! I wouldn’t stay with you if I 
could. Come now, get out of my way ! ” And he 
hurled his skates by their straps around and around 
his head, as he had seen an Indian wield his toma- 
hawk in Buffalo Bill’s “ Wild West Show.” Instinc- 
tively the German boys fell back. Quick as a flash, 
Freddy bolted through the circle at the spot where 
it was weakest. No one tried to stay him and no 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


143 


one followed. They had not intended to do him 
harm ; they had only wished him to go. He had 
now gone, and after a few words of comment and 
commendation the boys returned to their skating. 
They recognized courage when they saw it, and 
they admired it. 

Freddy Webster trotted home. He would cer- 
tainly be a soldier and as certainly President of the 
United States. He would declare war on Germany 
and himself lead his troops to battle. There was 
nothing he would like better than to march on 
Wiesbaden and shoot down every man of them. 
In the meantime he would go to the pension and 
see what he could find to amuse him there. 

As he climbed the hill on the top of which the 
Villa Rosa was situated, he saw a small figure 
dressed in dainty furs and with a bright scarlet cap 
upon her dark curls. It was the little Russian girl, 
who had been out for her daily walk with her 
German governess. The child’s mother, Madame 
d’Ormossipoff, rarely allowed her to leave her side, 
but she was not strong, and sometimes the little 
Tana was sent out with the Fraulein for a sedate 
constitutional. She was called “ Tana,” which were 
the last two syllables of a name of extraordinary and 
unpronounceable length. 


144 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


She was a very studious and a very demure little 
girl, but she was by no means indifferent to the 
fascinations of Freddy. She had never been allowed 
to associate with other children, and she did not 
know in the least how to play with them. To read, 
study, and chatter in four different languages with 
her mother had thus far constituted existence for 
her, but the coming of this American boy had 
brought a new interest into the daily monotony. 

Freddy had at first scarcely noticed the little girl, 
but there had been one or two rainy days when he 
had met her in the salon of the pension and had 
looked at her books, and had in turn showed her a 
wonderful “ bird-book ” of his own. Then they had 
played a game of “ Halma,” Tana going first to her 
mother to ask permission, and then sitting down to 
the game with solemn eyes and a sedate expression 
that never varied. Afterward she became less dig- 
nified and “grown-up.” The shyness wore away 
somewhat, and in its place came an intense admira- 
tion for the klei7ie Knabe which flattered Freddy’s 
self-esteem. He pardoned her the four languages, 
which he at first had been inclined to scorn, for he was 
glad enough to have some one of his own age who 
would talk to him in one of them, and in a certain 
way this oddly assorted pair had become fast friends. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. I45 

“Hello!” said Freddy, coming up behind her 
halfway up the hill. “ I say, Tana, wait a minute 
for me ! Where have you been ? ” 

“ I have been walking in the Kurpark and watch- 
ing the skaters. I saw you among them,” said the 
little girl. 

Freddy felt somewhat disturbed. Had Tana 
seen him in his hour of humiliation “ Where was 
I ? What was I doing ? ” he asked. 

“ You were on the lake, and you were performing 
excellently with your skates. And there were also 
Monsieur Reginald and les demoiselles. They, too, 
went back and forth, oh, so swiftly! My mamma 
tells me that in my country the ladies and gentle- 
men are the skaters the most wonderful in the 
world, but she permits me not to skate. She fears 
that the ice may give me cold. My mamma is ever 
fearful that I cold may be given.” 

The little girl’s conversation was a mixture of 
the idioms of her four languages, and when she 
spoke English she was apt to place her words 
oddly. 

“ Oh, it wouldn’t give you cold,” said Freddy, his 
spirits rising again when he found that Tana had 
not witnessed his recent discomfiture. “ I say, 
what’s the matter with FraulemV 


146 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ She has received unhappy tidings,” said the 
little girl, taking her arm from that of the governess 
to whom she had been clinging, and falling back 
for a moment with Freddy. 

The German girl stopped and pressed her hand- 
kerchief to her eyes. “ I am, indeed, unhappy,” 
she said. “ I have met my sister, who told me that 
my father is taken suddenly ill. We live at the 
other end of the city, beyond the Rhein-Strasse. 
She was coming to inform me, and now she has 
returned, and I am to follow her as soon as I have 
walked with Tana to her home. Ach, mein Vater ! 
Mein theurer Vater! He may even now be dead ! ” 

Freddy’s cheerful face grew grave and sympa- 
thetic. “ That’s too bad,” said he. “ I wish I had 
a father, don’t you, Tana.f^ It’s awful hard luck to 
have one and to have him die. Why don’t you go 
home now, Fraulein, as fast as you can scurry .? 
I’ll take Tana home. We’re ’most there now.” 

“Oh, but Madame!” said the girl. “You are 
indeed a good little boy, but Madame has strictly 
forbidden that I should leave Tana in the street 
even for a moment. She must never be alone.” 

“But she won’t be alone,” urged Freddy; “I’m 
with her, and I’m a boy, and so I know how to take 
care of her. In America the boys always look after 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 47 

the girls.” He had learned this bit of etiquette 
recently from his model, Reginald Manning. 

Fraulein Essler hesitated. “ I would so like to 
go, and so save these ten minutes ! ” she murmured. 

“ Then go quick or you won’t save ’em,” said 
Freddy, with the peremptory air that had often been 
successful with his mother. The governess hesi- 
tated no longer. 

“ Beeilen Sie sick, Tana^' she said, as she turned 
away, und gehen Sie ins Haus gleich And she 
hurried down the hill. 

The children walked on. It was still light, al- 
though it was after four o’clock. The days were 
growing longer now, and in the south of Germany 
night did not fall as early as it had in Brussels. 
The thin coating of snow that covered the earth 
added to the effect of brightness, and the clear, 
cold air was exhilarating. 

“ Wish we didn’t have to go into the house yet ! ” 
said Freddy, as they reached the corner of the street 
upon which was the Villa Rosa. 

“ I also wish it,” replied Tana. 

They paused. Freddy looked at Tana; she kept 
her dark eyes fixed steadfastly on the ground. 

“ Will you take a little longer walk ” he asked. 
His tone and manner were most persuasive. “ I 


148 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

know the way to an awfully nice walk in the 
woods.” 

“ But my mamma objected Tana, with a swift 
upward glance. “ She forbids me to walk more 
than I have already walked, and I am to return at 
four sans faute. Also, I am forbidden to walk 
alone.” 

“ You’re not alone, for I’m with you, and I 
don’t believe it’s anywhere near four o’clock. It 
seems only about a minute since we had dinner. 
Come! She won’t mind. It’s a nice place. It’s 
those woods that they call the Neroberg.” 

“ The Neroberg I ” cried Tana. “ I have ever 
wished to walk to the Neroberg, but my mamma 
and Fraulein, they insist always upon promenading 
on the streets with the shops, or in the Kurpark, 
where one meets the people.” 

“Come, then,” said Freddy, “now’s our chance! 
We’ll go just a little way, and when we get back it 
will still be early, and we’ll tell your mother all 
about it. I’ll take good care of you. I know the 
way. Come ! ” 

And Tana, with one last, doubting glance in the 
•direction of the Villa Rosa, obeyed. 


CHAPTER EIGHT. 


I T was about half-past five o’clock that afternoon 
when Mrs. Webster and the three girls left Mrs. 
Manning’s rooms, accompanied by Reginald and 
young Beauchamp. 

“ Let us walk back through the Kurpark,” said 
Mrs. Webster, “and look for Freddy. I told him 
not to stay late, but no doubt he has forgotten all 
about the time.” 

There were but few skaters left on the ice, and 
it was not difficult to see that Freddy was not 
among them. 

“ No, he has gone home,” said Mrs. Webster, with 
satisfaction, after she had paused for a moment and 
surveyed the lake. “ Dear boy, he is so good ! I 
have no doubt we shall find him sitting by the 
lamp and contentedly reading. He has so many 
resources.” 

“ He has, indeed ! ” murmured Hope to Cecil 
Beauchamp. “ So many that we are always wonder- 
ing which resource he is going to make use of 

149 


1 50 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

next. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find 
that he has been buying some dreadful American 
invention again and is planning to play a trick with 
it on the Russian lady, or some other timid boarder.” 
And then she described their experiences in Brus- 
sels, which Cecil found very diverting. 

“ May we go in with you and see what he is 
doing 1 ” asked Reginald. And permission being 
willingly granted, they all went into the salon. 

Here they found an excited group. Madame 
d’Ormossipoff was standing in the middle of the 
room, her frowsy hair pushed back from her thin, 
agitated face, her * great black eyes gleaming like 
live coals, her whole form quivering with nervous- 
ness ; Fraulein Heckmann, who kept \}[\^ pension, was 
there, and Mrs. Rush and Miss Wood, two English 
ladies, and one or two other people, all of whom 
were gathered about Madame d’Ormossipoff and 
were trying in vain to soothe her. She was speak- 
ing in English when the Americans entered, break- 
ing at times into French. 

“ Have you seen her ? ” she cried, darting forward 
and seizing Mrs. Webster’s hands. “ Have you 
seen my little Tana ? Perhaps your little boy would 
know. Where is he ? ” 

“ He is at home, and probably up in my room,” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 15 i 

replied Mrs. Webster. “ But what is the trouble, 
Madame } Where is Tana ? ” 

“ Ah ! Where, indeed ? La pauvre petite ! She 
is lost, or something has happened sans doute ! 
She is gone to take the promenade with her gov- 
erness as usual, and has never returned ! At four 
o’clock should she have arrived. It is now six, and 
there is no Tana! No sign, no message. Of what 
is that German girl thinking that she informs me 
not of what has happened } She is afraid to return 
and tell me I That is it I That is the secret of 
her absence ! I shall employ her no more. She 
shall be dismissed toute de suite. Perhaps your 
Freddy will have seen my little girl, Madame. 
Will you have the kindness to make inquiries? ” 

Mrs. Webster at once left the room, not without 
some foreboding in her own heart, while the girls 
asked the English ladies to give them some account 
of what the trouble really was. Madame d’Ormos- 
sipoff’s agitation was so great that it was difficult 
to understand her. 

There was not much to tell, however. Tana and 
her governess had not come home, and within the 
last half-hour a messenger had been despatched to 
the Fraulein’s house to learn if anything was known 
there. It would be some time before she returned, 


152 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

however, for the Essler family lived at a great dis- 
tance from the Villa Rosa. 

“ Madame did not think of doing that at first,” 
said Mrs. Rush. “ I suppose she was too much 
excited to think of anything, but Miss Wood sug- 
gested sending. We have already been to your 
rooms to try to find out something from Freddy, 
but he was not there.” 

The door of the salon opened again, and Mrs. 
Webster looked in. Her face was white, and with 
a frightened gesture she beckoned to Hope, who 
went out into the hall and closed the door behind 
her. She knew perfectly well what was coming. 

“Hope, he isn’t there!” said Mrs. Webster. “ I 
have looked everywhere, in all the rooms, and he 
isn’t there ! ” 

“ Do you suppose he is with 'Tana ” 

“ Certainly not I Why should he be with Tana? 
He has broken through the ice and fallen in ! He 
is drowned ! I am a most unfortunate and unhappy 
woman I Oh, Hope, where is he ? ” 

“ Oh, he is probably quite safe somewhere, Mrs. 
Webster. We must look him up, that is all. You 
know Freddy loves to hide and frighten us. No 
doubt he is at this minute watching us from some- 
where, and having a good laugh at our expense. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 153 

He has done it often enough for us to know what 
to expect. Come into the salon and sit down while 
we hunt. I wish he had chosen some other time, 
though, for it seems really serious about little 
Tana." 

Mrs. Webster, somewhat revived by these cheer- 
ing words, suffered herself to be led back to the 
salon. She sat there while the girls searched every 
nook and corner of the house where Freddy could 
by any possibility have hidden himself. He was not 
to be found. 

“ I really am afraid he hasn’t come home,” said 
Lois at last, “ for his coat and cap aren’t anywhere 
about, nor his gloves, nor his skates. He usually 
leaves his things lying about, just where they happen 
to fall." 

“ He may have them on,” said Hope, opening 
closet doors, looking under the bed for at least the 
fifth time, and even investigating the stove. “ I ex- 
pect to find him in the oven. But girls, if he isn’t 
in the house, I am sure he is with Tana. I know 
he is at the bottom of that scrape." 

“Hope! You are always ready to believe the 
worst of Freddy," said Lois. 

“ I have not been without experience. Well, we 
can’t find him, so we may as well go down and 


54 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


tell Mrs. Webster. With two frightened mothers on 
our hands, what are we going to do } ” 

“ I am glad the boys came home with us,” said 
Diana. “ They both have plenty of common sense, 
and will know the best thing to do.” 

“ I think it requires a vast amount of ^j^;^-common 
sense to keep even with Freddy,” remarked Hope. 

The boys at once offered to search the Kurpark, 
and to make inquiries of any one whom they should 
happen to meet who would be in a position to know 
anything, policemen, guards, and officials at the 
Kurhaus. 

“ If there has been any accident anywhere, we will 
find out about it,” whispered young Beauchamp. 
“ It is lucky we both speak German.” 

They were just leaving the house when the mes- 
senger who had been sent to the home of Fraulein 
Essler returned, and they came back to hear what 
she had learned. She brought a note to Madame 
d’Ormossipoff. 

“It is from the Fraulein herself!” screamed the 
Russian lady when she saw the address. She tore 
it open and read it. “ Ah-ha I ” she cried, turning 
to Mrs. Webster. “ It is as I thought! Cest votre 
fils — le petit me chant ! — cest lui qui V a fait ! 
Lisez-le!'' And she flung the note at Freddy’s 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


55 


mother, who picked it up and looked at it helplessly. 
What did those crooked, quavering German hiero- 
glyphics say about Freddy 

“ I can’t read it,” she murmured. “ Somebody 
come quickly and read it to me ! ” 

Cecil Beauchamp seized the crumpled sheet and, 
smoothing it out, he read as follows, translating 
rather literally: — 

“ Honored and esteemed Madam : On our walk 
I met my sister, who was coming in haste to 
tell me of the extreme illness of my father. I 
left her, and with the little Tana toward the Villa 
Rosa hurried. I intended her to her mother to 
return before I my own home should seek. On 
the Geisberg-Strasse we by the little American 
boy were overtaken. He offered the little Tana to 
the pension to escort, while I lost no time in to the 
bedside of my father coming. After much entreaty 
from Herr Freddy, I to do this consented. They 
were within but a short distance of the Villa Rosa, 
and I no harm could imagine. I left them and to 
this house returned. My father is dead.” 

A hush fell upon the group when the young Eng- 
lishman’s voice ceased. What a tragedy it was ! 


I 56 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

And in the meantime where were the children? 
There was no time to be lost, and the boys con- 
sulted with Fraulein Heckmann as to what would 
best be done. 

When Freddy and Tana turned away from the 
street upon which was the Villa Rosa, and followed 
that which led to the Neroberg, they had no inten- 
tion of staying out more than ten or fifteen minutes 
longer, at the most. The Neroberg is the name of 
a beautiful wood which extends over a large tract of 
land to the northeast of Wiesbaden. The outskirts 
of this wood were not far from the Villa Rosa, and 
Freddy had once walked there with Reginald. 
Ever since that day he had longed to go again, 
but the skating had been so good that no one had 
wished to give it up for a walk in the woods ; least 
of all Freddy himself. 

Now, however, it seemed an excellent opportunity 
to see just a little more of those paths which appar- 
ently led to all sorts of delightful resorts, beneath 
the tall trees of this German forest. The two chil- 
dren trudged along the road at a brisk pace. Tana’s 
dark curls bobbed up and down beneath her scarlet 
cap, and the color came into her cheeks with the 
unusual exercise. This was altogether different 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 57 

from the slow, sedate walks with her mother or her 
governess, and the child’s eyes lost for a time their 
strange, sombre look of having watched the world 
for many weary years. 

“ Do you have the forest in your country ? ” she 
asked, as they followed a broad path up over a hill. 
They were in the woods now. No one had walked 
here since the light fall of snow, a few days before, 
for their footprints were the first to mar its un- 
broken smoothness. At this season the Neroberg 
was deserted. 

“Oh, yes,” replied Freddy; “we have lots of 
forests, and a great deal bigger ones than this little 
wood.” He glanced upward at the lofty pines, 
which were so tall that their tops seemed out of 
sight. 

“ Everything in your country, then, is larger than 
in Europe,” said Tana. “ You have told me that your 
lakes and your rivers are so large that one cannot 
see from shore to shore, that your houses in your 
cities reach to the blue heavens, and now that your 
forests are greater than this. America must be 
a very wonderful place.” 

“ Oh, yes, it is. Everything is pretty big there. 
We have lots of different sizes of forests and trees. 
Why, there are some trees in America that if you 


158 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

were to cut ’em down and make a hole through the 
middle of ’em, you could drive a horse and cart right 
through. Guess you could get a trolley car through. 
What you call a tram, you know.” 

Tana’s eyes grew big with astonishment. “ And 
are many of your trees like that } ” 

“ Oh, no, not so very many. Those big trees 
grow out in California. That’s thousands of miles 
from where I live. We don’t have ’em ’round 
Baltimore. But we have lots of other big things,” 
said Young America. 

“ Do you have the wolves } ” asked the little 
Russian. 

“Wolves!” repeated Freddy, looking around 
apprehensively. “ Not where I live, but there are 
some out West, I guess, and there are buffaloes and 
things. They’re bigger than wolves.” 

“In my country there are the wolves, and my 
Mamma has told me tales of swift rides across the 
snow in a sleigh, when far off arises the cry of 
the wolves which follow, follow, drawing nearer and 
nearer — ” 

“ Do they have ’em in Germany ? ” asked Freddy, 
breaking in upon her recital with scant ceremony. 

“ I think not. In Wiesbaden there are none.” 

“ I’m glad of that. I’d like to see a wolf well 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 1 59 

enough, though, and if one were to come along now. 
I’d fight him off pretty quick. You needn’t be in the 
least bit afraid, Tana, for I’ll take care of you, you 
know. I’d just swing my skates around and around 
my head, like this,” — he whirled them about with 
lightning rapidity, — “ and then let them go straight 
at the wolf’s eyes.” He relaxed his hold, and the 
skates went flying through the trees and fell to the 
ground at some distance from where the children 
were standing, for in the excitement of this thrilling 
conversation they had paused. Then they both ran 
to pick them up. 

“ Here is another path, over this way,” said Freddy. 
“ Let’s take that and go around by the Greek Chapel, 
and then down to the street, and home. That will 
be just a nice little walk.” 

But although they walked steadily for some dis- 
tance, they saw no sign of the Greek Chapel. This 
was a very beautiful building, with five golden 
domes, and it could be seen through the trees, when 
the day was bright, from the forest side, and was 
always visible from the town. It was built to mark 
the tomb of a Russian princess, and was on the 
side of the hill. A fine view of the city and the 
surrounding country could be had from there, 
for the ground sloped abruptly to the streets far 


i6o 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


below. Freddy had already been there more than 
once with his friends; he had never approached it 
in just this way, but he had a general idea of its 
position, and he had great confidence in his own 
ability to find his way about. This perfect confi- 
dence in himself had led Freddy into difficulties of 
various kinds before this, but it remained unshaken. 

If they had stayed in the path by which they had 
entered the woods, all would have been well, for it 
led directly to the Chapel, but the digression caused 
by the throwing of the skates and Freddy’s unlucky 
decision to try a new path were fatal. It was grow- 
ing dark rapidly, for here in the forest the pines shut 
off the daylight long before it left the outer world. 
It was now too dark to read the signs that were far 
above the heads of the children and which marked 
the intersecting paths. Freddy looked about him. 
It was perfectly still. The birds which he had seen 
here in the daytime — rooks, thrushes, and lively 
sparrows — had vanished. They were all asleep, no 
doubt, with the coming of night. He looked up. 
Had he told Tana that there were taller trees in 
America? Then he had said what was not true. 

“ I guess I made a mistake, Tana,” he said, slowly. 
“ These trees are bigger than any I ever saw at 
home.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. l6l 

“ But the horse and wagon, and the electric tram ? 
Is it not, then, true that — ” 

“ Oh, yes, that’s true enough out in California, 
only I have never seen them, and I don’t believe 
I want to. These German trees are big enough. 
Tana” — he hesitated. The little girl turned in- 
quiring eyes upon him. “You’re quite sure you 
didn’t make a mistake, too } ” 

“ A mistake } ” 

“ Yes. About the wolves, you know. About 
there not being any around here.” 

“ Here in Wiesbaden ? ” The little Russian 
laughed her sedate, grown-up laugh. “ Ah, no ! 
They are tales of my country that my Mamma tells 
me. The country where I myself have never lived. 
But I wish that I were now with my Mamma, 
Freddy. We have lingered too long in the wood. 
She will already be looking for me. Let us go to 
the Villa Rosa. Quick!” 

“Yes, we’re going,” said Freddy, moving forward 
in precisely the wrong direction. “ Here, take my 
hand, Tana, and we’ll get along faster. Don’t you 
be frightened, Tana. I’ll take care of you. I’m 
glad you didn’t make a mistake about the wolves. 
Isn’t it quiet } ” 

It was very quiet. Freddy talked volubly as they 


M 


1 62 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

walked, but Tana said nothing. He looked at her 
once in a while to see if she were crying, but so far 
as he could tell she was not. On the whole she was 
behaving very well — for a girl. 

“ I wish you would say something once in a 
while,” said he, at last. “ It’s awful still, and a feller 
can’t do all the talking.” 

nai rien a dire^' replied Tana. Her anguish 
of mind was too great for her to use any language 
but French, which was practically her native tongue. 

Je desire voir ma maman ! ” 

Freddy caught the word “maman,” and said no 
more. In silence they walked on. There was a 
faint white light in the woods. It was moonlight 
flickering through the branches and shining on the 
snow, and sometimes, away up above the tree-tops, 
Freddy caught a glimpse of the moon. It was a 
comfort to him to think that this was the same moon 
that shone upon America. It was not a German 
moon, as these were German trees and German 
snow, nor was it Russian, like the little girl beside 
him, nor French, like the only words she would say 
to him. It was an American moon as much as it 
was anything else. 

“ I guess I’ll whistle something,” said he, pres- 
ently; and in a moment the lively refrain of 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 63 

“Yankee Doodle” echoed shrilly through the 
forest. 

Tana listened. “That is a beautiful music,” said 
she in English. “ Please continue.” 

“ ril tell you the words,” said Freddy, eagerly, 
“ and we’ll sing it ! You can sing, for I’ve heard 
you. It isn’t a long song, and you say the same 
thing over and over again. It’s just this: — 

“ ‘ Yankee Doodle came to town, 

Riding on a pony ; 

Stuck a feather in his hat, 

And called it Macaroni.’ ” 

“What does it mean?” asked Tana, as she re- 
peated the words after him, rolling the r’s as they 
had never been rolled before in the old song. 

“ I don’t know. Nobody knows, I guess. We all 
sing it, though. Now, here goes! You know the 
tune.” 

And so, hand in hand, they walked through the 
German forest singing “Yankee Doodle.” The 
little Russian girl’s sweet voice blended well with 
Freddy’s high shrill soprano, and her foreign accent 
lent a quaint charm to the old words. Occasionally 
they would stop to rest, but in a few minutes they 
would begin again. 

“ It is more cheerful when we sing,” said Tana. 


1 64 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

At the Villa Rosa there was a hasty consultation 
after the Fraulein’s note had been received. Frau- 
lein Heckmann had advised going immediately to the 
authorities and putting the case in their hands. 
Cecil Beauchamp, however, objected to this. 

“You have to go through with such a lot of 
formalities, don’t you know ! ” said he, aside, to 
Reginald. “ Here in Germany no one lifts a fin- 
ger without being directed to do it by the person 
above him.” 

“ I know,” said Reginald. “ There’s such a lot of 
red tape necessary that I suppose they would tele- 
graph to the Kaiser for permission before they would 
dare go out to look those children up. I have an 
idea! You know we didn’t know until the note 
came that they were nearly home. We thought 
they might have been on the ice and have fallen in, 
or something like that. You see it was nothing of 
the kind. From what I know of Freddy, I think he 
has just gone off to some place and taken Tana. 
Probably to get ice cream, or something of that 
kind.” 

“ You forget where you are,” put in Hope. “ You 
don’t get ice cream in Germany ; but I believe you 
are right in your theory, Reggie. Perhaps they 
went to walk, and have lost their way.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, ' 1 65 

“ In the Neroberg, perhaps ! ” exclaimed Reginald. 
“ Freddy is always keen on going to the Neroberg, 
and he could easily get lost among all those paths. 
I say we look about a little before we go to the 
police, but don’t tell them here that we have decided 
to do that or they will be sure to want us to do 
something different.” 

They had been standing apart from the other 
people. No one had noticed their conference, for 
there was so much to be done in caring for the 
two mothers. Mrs. Webster had gone to her 
room with Diana and one of the English ladies, 
while Madame d’Ormossipoff was in violent hys- 
terics in the salon, and required the whole attention 
of Fraulein Heckmann and the other boarders, who 
could not understand her complete lack of all effort 
toward self-control. 

Hope and Lois, with the two young men, hastily 
let themselves out by the front door. They walked 
out of the little courtyard and around to the corner 
of the street on which the governess had said she 
had left the two children. 

“ If they went to the Neroberg from here, it 
could have been by but one road,” said Reginald. 

They hurried up the incline which led to the 
steeper hill, and in a short time they had reached 


i66 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


the path into the woods. The moon, which had 
cheered Freddy in the forest, shone down on the 
snow, and showed the small footprints of the only 
two persons who had walked in that direction 
since the storm. 

“We have done right ! ” cried Reginald, joyously, 
as he bent down to look. “ These are children’s 
footprints ! All we have to do is to follow care- 
fully.” 

It seemed easy enough out there in the moon- 
light, but it was a different matter when they got 
farther into the woods. Presently they reached 
the place from which Freddy had thrown the 
skates. The marks on the path disappeared 
abruptly. 

“ Where did they go } ” asked Lois. 

Cecil Beauchamp took some matches from his 
pocket. He lighted them carefully, one after 
another, and by the faint flame he scanned the 
snow on all sides. 

“ They went off here, through the trees,” said he. 
“ What do you suppose made them do such an 
unusual thing as that 1 Why did they not keep to 
the beaten track ? ” 

“ I suppose,” said Hope, reluctantly, sorry to 
yield her point, but unable to resist the joke even 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 167 

though it was upon herself, “ I suppose because 
Freddy is an American boy. He was looking for 
something new, I am afraid.” 

“ For once, then,” said Beauchamp, “you will 
acknowledge that an English boy would have been 
wiser. He would have stuck to the old ways.” 

“Yes, just this once I will acknowledge it,” said 
Hope. 

“ The laugh is on you this time, Hope,” said 
Reginald ; and they all joined in it in spite of 
their anxiety. 


CHAPTER NINE. 


T en minutes later the searching party had not 
progressed very far. 

“ I can’t understand it,” said Cecil. “ As far as I 
can make out, they seem to have gone around in a 
circle. We have come back to almost the same 
spot we were at before. I am afraid we have missed 
it in some way.” 

“ Hark ! ” said Hope, suddenly. “ What is that ? ” 
They all listened. In the distance was heard a 
faint sound. 

“ It is singing ! ” said Hope, in a whisper. “ And 
Lois ! Reggie ! I do believe it is ‘ Yankee Doodle ’ ! ” 
“ It is ! ” exclaimed Reginald. “ Let us shout ! ” 
But Lois laid her hand on his arm and stopped 
him. “ It might -frighten them,” she said. “ Of 
course, if that is ‘Yankee Doodle,’ it is Freddy who 
is singing it. Wait and listen, and then we will go 
to them.” 

They did so, and presently, to their great relief, 
the singing began again, and they hurried ini the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 69 

direction from which it appeared to come. Then it 
stopped. 

“ Let us sing it,” said Hope. “ They will hear us, 
and Freddy will know what it means.” 

They all sang with a will, the young English- 
mans fine tenor ringing out clear and loud. They 
repeated it twice, and then Hope, whose voice was 
very strong, called the two children by name. 
Away off they heard a faint reply. They started at 
once in that direction, singing as they went, and 
occasionally stopping to call again. Each time, to 
their joy, the answer sounded nearer, and at last they 
came to a small pavilion, built in the woods for a 
resting-place for pedestrians in summer. Two small 
figures sat huddled together on one of the benches, 
and as they approached, one of these figures jumped 
to his feet and began to hop up and down. Of 
course it was Freddy. 

“ I thought it was you,” said he. “ I knew you’d 
be along. I have been telling Tana she needn’t be 
afraid. These are awful big woods, and we’ve been all 
over ’em. And Tana’s forgotten how to talk English 
and only says French things that sound like praying, 
except when we’re singing ‘Yankee Doodle.’” 

Hope sat down on the bench and put her arms 
around the little girl. 


I/O THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Cest le bon Dieu qui nous a sauve^ murmured 
Tana. "'‘Ah, Mademoiselle, je suis fatiguee ! Qui 
done est Monsieur Yankee Doodle qui est venu ? 
Toujours, toujours, nous chantons, ‘ Yankee Doodle’s 
come to town.’ ” 

Cecil Beauchamp picked up the child in his 
strong young arms. “ I will carry you home,” said 
he ; “ you are too tired to walk another step, and 
you are cold, too. The child is shivering.” 

He put her down again, and hastily taking off his 
overcoat, he wrapped it about her. 

“You will take cold yourself,” said Hope. 

“ Oh, no, I very seldom wear a coat.” And then 
he took Tana in his arms again, and the little pro- 
cession started. 

They found upon examining a sign-board that the 
path upon which the pavilion stood led directly to 
the opening in the woods by which they had entered, 
and it did not take long to reach it. The children had 
not at any time been very far from the outside world, 
although they had no doubt walked a great distance. 

“ You have given us all a dreadful fright, Freddy,” 
said Hope, who, now that her anxiety was at rest, 
allowed her indignation to find expression. “You 
have been a very naughty boy. Your mother is 
horribly frightened.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 171 

“ She is always getting frightened,” returned 
Freddy, calmly. 

“ And as to Madame d’Ormossipoff, she is nearly 
crazy,” continued Hope; “and Tana will be ill, I 
am sure. She is always guarded so carefully from 
any chance of taking cold. How could you do such 
a thing as come to the woods } ” 

“ There wasn’t any harm in it. Of course, I 
didn’t suppose we’d go and get lost. If it hadn’t 
got so dark we’d have been all right.” 

“See here, Freddy,” said Reginald. “As I 
understand it, the governess left Tana in your 
care.” 

“Yes,” said Freddy, rather reluctantly. 

“ And I suppose you promised to take care of her 
and take her right home.” 

“ Yes, I said I’d take care of her.” 

“ Do you think you kept your word ” 

“ Not exactly. Well, I took care of her in the 
woods.” 

“ But you oughtn’t to have been near the woods. 
The Fraulein trusted you, supposing, of course, that 
you were a gentleman and could therefore be 
trusted. A gentleman keeps his word. For my 
part, I haven’t much opinion of a boy who is 
given the care of a little girl, and then breaks 


172 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

his promise and takes her off into the woods and 
gets lost.” 

Freddy was silent. These words of condemnation 
from his favorite Reginald cut very deep. Then 
Tana raised her head from Cecil Beauchamp’s 
shoulder. He was walking in front, and they had 
thought that she was asleep. 

“ It is not right that you should so speak to 
Freddy more than to me,” she said. “ I, too, wished 
to go to the Neroberg. And he sang to me and 
cheered me when I was triste, I like Freddy. Ah, 
but I am so tired ! ” 

Then she put her head down again, and the rest 
of the way they walked in silence, while Reginald 
ran on ahead to reach the pension as soon as pos- 
sible with the glad tidings of the children’s safety. 

After this episode life at the Villa Rosa was not 
as agreeable as it had been before. Tana was none 
the worse for the adventure, but her mother could 
not forgive Freddy for being the cause of such 
anxiety, and she herself suffered so much in con- 
sequence that she was ill for a week. Tana was 
not allowed to leave her room except for a walk 
every day with one of the English ladies, who took 
compassion on the child. She was forbidden to 
speak to Freddy, and could only look at him with 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 73 

a mournful glance of the dark eyes when they 
chanced to meet on the stairs. 

Freddy affected an indifference that he was far 
from feeling. It was very mortifying to find that he 
was considered beneath recognition. For the first 
time in his life he realized that his way was not 
altogether the best way, and the lesson, painful 
though it was, was good for him. 

Thq fine weather, which had lasted an unusually 
long time, ceased soon after this, and there came a 
succession of storms and of dull, foggy days. A 
warm rain and the mist destroyed the skating, and 
life out of doors was no longer attractive. It was 
not much pleasanter within the house, for the rooms 
were dark, the stoves were hot, and, as usual in 
Germany, every breath of fresh air was carefully 
excluded. The Kurhaus was the only attraction 
at that time, with its reading-rooms and its daily 
concerts. 

One morning Reginald Manning came early to 
the Villa Rosa. “It is a holiday,” said he, “and 
there is going to be a parade and review of the 
troops. It is the two hundredth anniversary of 
Prussia becoming a kingdom, and it is being 
celebrated all through the country. Don’t you 
want to come to the Kurhaus } It will all be in front 


174 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

of the Kurhaus, and if we go now, I shouldn’t 
wonder if we could get seats in one of the windows. 
The parade doesn’t begin until twelve, but we’d 
better go soon. Mother is there already.” 

Before long they were all established in one of 
the windows of the reading-room, apparently en- 
gaged in reading the papers, but at the same time 
watching the scenes in the park. When the 
parade began and the other people came to the 
windows to watch it they found that the Americans, 
with their usual enterprise, were already “ there.” 

It was a cold day, and there was a penetrating 
dampness, owing to the fog which hung about, 
lifting at intervals, but always near. There had 
been a light fall of snow the night before, just 
enough to cover every twig and branch in the light- 
est, airiest way. People gathered on all sides, and 
presently the troops began to congregate ; the 
officers strutted proudly about and shouted their 
orders, the bands played national airs, and the review 
was soon in full force. When it was over, Hope 
and Lois, with Reginald and Cecil Beauchamp, 
walked through the Kurpark. In the distance they 
could hear the music of the band as some of the 
troops marched away. They felt intensely the 
strange thrill of excitement that martial music never 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 75 

fails to inspire, and the effect was heightened by the 
dazzling trees and bushes and the touch of mystery 
given by the shifting fog. 

“ I wonder if we shall enjoy Munich half as much 
as Wiesbaden,” said Hope, as they walked in a 
remote part of the park under the snow-laden trees. 

“ Do you still think Munich is the best place for 
us to go ? ” asked Lois. 

“ Why, where else should we go ? ” exclaimed 
Hope, in some surprise. “We have never had any 
other plan. It seems the best place in Germany 
that we can reach now.” 

“ Why do you stick to Germany } ” asked Cecil. 

“Yes. That is just what I was going to say,” 
said Lois, eagerly. “We seem to think we must be 
in Germany all winter. It is such a cold, dreary 
place.” 

“That sounds like Mrs. Webster,” observed 
Hope. “ I do hope, Lois, that you are not chang- 
ing your mind about things. Are you } I didn’t 
know that you minded cold and dreary places. I 
thought I was the one whom you all consider fool- 
ish about rainy weather. And you know we came 
to Germany for the sake of the art and the music. 
When Diana’s eyes are better she will need to make 
up for lost time in looking at pictures.” 


176 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ She could get pictures in Paris.” 

“ Paris ! ” Hope stood still in the path and looked 
at Lois. “ What has put Paris into your head 1 ” 

“ My dear Hope, don’t be so tragic. Surely it is 
not unheard of that an American should want to go 
to Paris } ” 

“ Why, no. Of course not. But you know we 
planned to go there later; to go on from Munich 
in the spring. We can’t afford to stay long in 
Paris. It is ever so much more expensive than 
Germany.” 

“ I shouldn’t wonder if we could make good ar- 
rangements there as well as anywhere else,” said Lois. 
“ Mrs. Webster and I were talking about it last 
night. She has been wretched ever since the fright 
Freddy and Tana gave her, and she wants to get 
somewhere and have some diversion. She really 
needs it.” 

Hope did not reply. 

“ She would get plenty in Paris,” said young 
Beauchamp, laughing. “We are going there from 
here, and I wish you would decide to go there 
instead of to Munich, but I will tell you honestly 
that the climate is about as beastly in Paris as any- 
where in winter. It is raining and cold most of the 
time.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 77 

“ Is there any place in Europe where the sun 
shines in winter ? ” asked Lois. 

“ Oh, yes. In Italy or the south of France, you 
can get all you want, but I believe it has been rain- 
ing pretty steadily all along the Riviera this year.” 

“We are thinking of going to the south of 
France,” said Reginald. “ It is a long journey, 
but a very interesting one, and mother thinks I 
ought to have more sunshine. Hang it! I wish 
I were more like you, Beauchamp. What is the 
use of a fellow who is good for nothing half the 
time ” 

It was not often that Reginald’s cheerfulness 
forsook him, or that he mentioned his lack of 
strength. There was nothing actually the matter, 
but he had over-studied and had grown very fast, 
and his physician at home had ordered a year of 
idleness, and change of air and scene. He would 
probably be quite well in a year or two, but in the 
meantime it annoyed him to be watched over and 
taken care of, although he seldom put his impa- 
tience into words. 

“ I think,” said Hope, presently, and speaking 
more slowly than usual, “ I think we shall have to 
be guided by what Diana needs. Her eyes must 
be thought of first, and what is good for them. It 

N 


178 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

doesn’t seem to me as if Paris would be the place 
for her now.” 

“ And, speaking of angels, there she is, away 
ahead of us,” said Reginald. “ She and my mother, 
walking along in the deepest consultation. I won- 
der what they are up to ! ” 

“They have just come from the oculist’s. You 
know they were going to see him after the review. 
Your mother is so good to go with Di.” 

“ She is glad to do it, for she is very fond of her.” 

“ It is so fortunate that she is here,” said Lois, 
“ for Mrs. Webster is so miserable now, and the 
long waiting at the doctor’s before they could see 
him always had such a depressing effect on her, 
among all those patients with bandages on, and 
weak eyes.” 

“ Poor Mrs. Webster ! ” said Reginald, dryly. “ It 
is hard on her that Diana should have trouble with 
her eyes ! ” 

Lois colored, but was silent. 

It was dinner time when they reached the Villa 
Rosa, and the girls had no opportunity for conversa- 
tion. Hope fancied that Diana was looking some- 
what depressed, but she told herself that no doubt it 
was her own anxious imagination that made her 
think so. They were all rather silent, for Madame 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 79 

d’Ormossipoff and Tana made their appearance at 
table for the first time since the night the children 
were lost, and her marked hostility toward the 
American party was quite undisguised. The meal 
progressed slowly, the various courses of meats 
and substantial puddings requiring what seemed 
an unusual amount of time. At last, however, it 
came to an end, and the girls went at once to their 
rooms. 

“ I have something to tell you, ” said Diana, as 
she slipped a hand through the arm of each on their 
way upstairs. 

“ Shall I tell Mrs. Webster to come, too.?^ ” asked 
Lois. 

“Not this time, Lois dear. At least, not quite 
yet. I would really like to talk to you and Hope 
alone for a little while.” 

“ She can amuse Freddy,” said Hope. “ She has 
asked me to play with him later in the afternoon. 
It won’t hurt her — just for a change.” 

“ Hope, I think you are really horrid about Mrs. 
Webster,” observed Lois, when they were in their 
rooms and the outer door was shut. “ I think she 
is one of the sweetest women I have ever known. 
She can’t help leaning upon people. It is her 
nature.” 


i8o 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ You might as well say that I can’t help getting 
fearfully cross about her. It is my nature ! ” 

“ Well, I agree with you,” said Lois, good-na- 
turedly. “ It is your nature.” 

“ But that doesn’t make it any better for other 
people. I ought to overcome my nature, and if I 
try to do it, why shouldn’t Mrs. Webster try just as 
hard } And she doesn’t.” 

“ How do you know? No one can guess how much 
other people may be trying to overcome things.” 

“ Very true,” said Hope. “ For aught I know, 
Mrs. Webster may be wearing herself out in her 
efforts not to lean upon me, Hope Conway, with 
my unfortunately dependable name, but no one 
would ever suppose that she was. The odd part 
of it is that she doesn’t seem to be as fond of me 
now as she is of either of you, and yet she comes 
to me more than she does to you for help in her 
difficulties and for looking after Freddy. I don’t 
think she cares for me a bit now.” 

“ Perhaps that is the reason you don’t like it,” 
said Lois. “ When Mrs. Webster does care for any 
one she is perfectly fascinating and dear.” 

“We are wasting time in this useless discussion 
which we have had over and over so many times 
already,” exclaimed Hope, impatiently. “ I want to 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. l8l 

hear what Diana has to say about her eyes before — 
before anybody comes to interrupt us.” 

“ Poor Mrs. Webster, I suppose!” said Lois. 

“ Come, girls, don’t say anything more about that 
now, please 1 ” urged Diana. “ I do want to tell you 
something very important. The doctor says that 
he has done all he can for my eyes ; that the chief 
trouble now is caused by my nervous system, and he 
wants me to do — what do you think.? ” 

“ What? ” asked Hope and Lois together. 

“ Give up going to Munich I I don’t know what 
you will say to it I ” 

“ I shall not mind it,” cried Lois, with a glance 
at Hope. “ Not a bit I ” 

“ And go where ? ” asked Hope. 

“ I scarcely dare tell you, for I don’t see how we 
can afford it. Either to go to Italy or the south 
of France, where I can be out of doors all day and 
do absolutely nothing with my eyes.” 

There was silence in the room for at least a 
minute. Hope’s mind turned to her account book 
and their letter of credit ; that of Lois flew to Paris. 

“ I see that neither of you like the idea,” con- 
tinued Diana, “ and so I am going to propose some- 
thing else — something I really think it would be 
better for me to do. I will go home.” 


i 82 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


“ Go home ! Diana ! ” 

“Yes, I really mean it. I have been nothing 
but a drag on you ever since we came. All the 
plans have had to be changed on account of my 
eyes, and now here comes another complication. 
It would be much better for me to go home. I 
can’t look at pictures or do any of the things that 
I came abroad for, and the doctor says I need 
sunshine more than anything else. We have 
plenty of that at home, you know, and it would 
be much less expensive than to go as far as Italy or 
the south of France. I can see that Hope thinks 
it would cost a great deal to do that. If I leave 
you, you can go on to Munich and — oh, yes, I am 
sure it will be much better for me to go home.” 

“ You are perfectly crazy,” said Hope, when 
Diana paused. “ I thought I would let you talk 
on just to see how far you would go. I thought, 
Di, you had more common sense ! As if we 
would let you go ! As if we wouldn’t arrange to do 
anything to make your eyes well ! Did the doctor 
tell you that it would be good for you to go home 1 ” 

“ No" 0 . He said it would be good for me to 
have the interest of seeing new places.” 

“ I thought so. And what kind of a time would 
Lois and the Websters and I have in Munich 


THREE. GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 83 

when neither Lois nor Mrs. Webster want to go 
there 'I ” 

“ Don’t they } ” 

“ Not in the least,” said Lois. “ I am very glad 
there is something to make us decide to go 
somewhere else. What would the doctor say to 
Paris, Di.?” 

Diana looked at her in some astonishment. “ I 
don’t think Paris would do. He wishes me- to be 
out-of-doors.” 

“ Oh, yes. I forgot. I wonder what Mrs. 
Webster would think of Italy. Rome might be 
attractive.” 

“ Do you think we can go as far as Rome ? ” 
asked Hope, getting out maps and guide-books. 
“ It seems very far away, and I have an idea that 
it is very expensive when you get there. The 
Mannings are going to France.” 

“Yes,” said Diana. “Mrs. Manning told me 
their plans this morning, and she is very anxious 
for us to go with them to Hyeres. That is not 
actually on the Riviera, but it is a lovely place 
about three miles from the Mediterranean, and not 
as expensive as Nice or Mentone or those places. 
It is quiet compared to them. There is not so 
much going on in the way of amusement, but that 


1 84 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

doesn’t make very much difference to us, does it ? 
Oh, girls, I do feel so dreadfully to think that I am 
hampering you ! I am spoiling your whole trip.” 

“What perfect nonsense!” said Hope. “We 
have had a lovely time here, and if we go to 
France, we shall travel much more than we ever 
supposed we should ; and besides, isn’t it a 
thousand times worse for you than it can pos- 
sibly be for the rest of us.^ You have had all the 
pain and disappointment, and have had to give up 
so many things that you have longed to see, and 
yet you have borne it all like a perfect angel.” 

“ Oh, no, I haven’t I ” said Diana, turning quickly 
away and going to her little room. “ I wish you 
would go and tell Mrs. Webster about it, Lois, and 
see what she says.” 

“ Of course she will agree,” said Hope. “ How 
could she help it } ” 

But to the surprise of every one but Lois, Mrs. 
Webster did not agree. She had set her heart 
upon going to Paris. She had heard recently that 
some frieiids of hers from Baltimore were to be in 
Paris during the remainder of the winter, and she 
was anxious to be there, too. She was equally 
desirous that Lois Putnam should go with her. 
There was endless discussion, but nothing could 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 85 

shake Mrs. Webster’s determination. She was 
going to Paris, but she would not go alone. Lois 
must go with her. 

At first it never occurred to Hope and Diana that 
there was the slightest possibility that Lois would 
do this. That the three should separate even for 
a few weeks seemed quite incredible, but it soon 
became plain that Lois was wavering. For some 
unknown and inexplicable reason Paris with Mrs. 
Webster and Freddy seemed to present more 
attractions than Hyeres with her two friends and 
the Mannings. Hope went to see Mrs. Manning 
one day to talk it over with her. 

“ I can’t understand Lois,” said she. “ She seems 
so different from what she used to be. I am sure it 
is all owing to Mrs. Webster’s influence. If we let 
her go with her we shall never again have the same 
old Lois. I am afraid she is getting to care for 
clothes and gayety, and just having a good time, 
without regard to anything else. She adores Mrs. 
Webster so much that she doesn’t think of Diana 
and me and how badly we feel to have her leave us. 
I feel responsible for her, and I am sure Mrs. Put- 
nam wouldn’t like it if she knew what kind of a 
woman Mrs. Webster really is.” 

Mrs. Manning was silent for a few moments. 


1 86 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

Then she said, “ May I speak very plainly to you, 
Hope? ” 

“ Yes, indeed ! I wish you would, for I need advice 
very much. I am getting all topsy-turvy in my mind.” 

“ Then I shall advise you to let Lois do as she 
wishes without further opposition. You need not 
take too much responsibility on your shoulders; 
you have done what you could to keep her, now let 
her go. We cannot expect our friends always to do 
just what we want them to do, nor to be exactly as 
we would have them. It is often a very fortunate 
thing that we can’t, I think. And, above all, we may 
as well learn, as soon as we can, to realize people’s 
limitations. Lois is not Diana, and she can’t be, 
and you needn’t expect her to give you all that it is 
in Diana to give you ; but she is a very sweet girl, 
with many good qualities. She needs a little experi- 
ence of people, and I think you will find, eventually, 
that she will be more as you would have her because 
she has had that experience. In the meantime, let 
her find things out for herself. It isn’t unnatural 
for a girl to want to have a good time.” 

“ But Diana and I are girls, too, and we are going to 
have a good time,” persisted Hope. “ I don’t want 
Lois’s idea of a good time to be different from ours. 
I don’t want her to slip away from Diana and me.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 8 / 

“ No, dear ; that is just where the trouble lies,” 
said Mrs. Manning, gently. “ Hope must live the 
best life she can, but not try to live Lois’s life, too. 
You have done all you could to make her do what 
you think is best, and it has had no elfect. Now 
let it drop. It will all come right in the end, I 
think. Things usually do. Very often I have found 
that to be the case. I have been worried and anx- 
ious about complications and difficulties that have 
arisen, — and I have had great trials, too, that at the 
time seemed almost beyond endurance, — but, in 
looking back, I can see the good they brought. 
There is great truth in the words : ‘ All things work 
together for good.’ It seems very hard now about 
Diana’s eyes, but perhaps some day she will under- 
stand why she has had the trial and the disappoint- 
ment. It may have been to lead her to something 
better. There, my dear, I have preached you quite 
a sermon ! Arthur would tell you that I am very 
fond of doing it. I wish I could go to Paris my- 
self, to see my dear boy, but that will come later.” 

“ You are a dear ! ” said Hope, kissing her. “You 
have done me ever so much good. I, too, have my 
limitations, as well as Lois. I must write a book 
some day, and call it ‘ The Limitations of Hope.’ ” 


CHAPTER TEN. 


H eidelberg had been left behind — Hei- 
delberg with its Castle and its University, its 
old bridge over the Neckar, and its fine background 
of mountain. The newly adjusted party of travel- 
lers, consisting of Diana and Hope, with Mrs. Man- 
ning and Reginald, had stopped here over night, 
and had explored the picturesque town. The next 
day came the long journey into Switzerland. It 
was clear and cold, and as the train climbed higher 
and higher into the Alps, the scenery became more 
wild and beautiful, and the air more pure and exhila- 
rating. They stopped at Lausanne and Geneva, and 
then continued their journey in search of sunshine, 
for, after the first day or two, a thick mist hid all the 
magnificent scenery from their view. And then, 
shortly after leaving Geneva, they crossed the fron- 
tier, and found themselves in France. 

The first night they spent in Lyons, and the next 
day went on to Avignon, arriving there at about 
four o’clock in the afternoon. The sky was an un- 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


flecked blue, for the sun was shining gloriously ; but 
it was cold, and the mistral was blowing, a strong, 
tiresome wind which Baedeker calls “ the plague of 
Provence.” 

“ Talk about American cyclones ! ” said Hope, 
breathlessly. “ I have never felt such a wind as 
this. The gale that blows through Copley Square 
in Boston on a February day is a gentle summer 
zephyr compared to this hurricane.” 

They had left their luggage at the quaint old- 
fashioned inn where they had found rooms, and were 
now setting forth to explore the town. It is a very 
old place, having been in existence long before the 
coming of the Romans, who have left so many traces 
of their occupation of France all through this region. 
Its walls, for it is one of the few cities around which 
the walls still stand, are well preserved, and give a 
most interesting and unique appearance to the city 
that was the residence of the popes for over seventy 
years, in the fourteenth century. 

The Americans climbed the hill upon the top of 
which the Papal Palace and the Cathedral stand, 
side by side. The Palace is now used as a barrack, 
and as they approached, a troop of French soldiers 
marched briskly past them and disappeared within 
the huge pile of buildings which have seen such 


1 90 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

changes of fortune. Farther on was the Cathedral, 
and after they had examined the interior they came 
out and walked along the Promenade du Rocher des 
Doms, from which they could see the Rhone, with 
the old towers of Villeneuve on the opposite bank, 
and, most interesting of all, the ruins of the cele- 
brated Pont d' Avignon, the old bridge across the 
river, only half of which now remains. 

“ Doesn’t it remind you of the old song,” said 
Mrs. Manning, '' ' Sur le p on t d' Avignon' ? We 
used to sing it when I was a child.” 

“So did we,” said Hope, “ and you have no 
idea how intensely thrilling it is to me to see the 
bridge. I think it would have been the mistake 
of our lives not to have taken this trip. I must 
go down to the bridge and as far out on it as I 
can, for I want to be able to say all the rest of 
my life that I have been ‘ Sur le pont, sur le pont, 
sur le pont d' Avignon! ” 

“ Suppose we go now,” suggested Reginald. “ I 
should like to.” 

“ And I,” said Diana. “ This is the most fasci- 
nating and picturesque place I have ever imagined.” 

“ I think I shall go back to the hotel,” said Mrs. 
Manning. “ This wind is almost too much for me. 
But I don’t wish any one to come with me, for I 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


19I 


shall be glad of a chance to rest. You need not 
hurry back on my account” 

They were all holding on to their hats, and found 
it difficult to keep their footing on the top of the 
high rock which formed the promenade. They 
walked down the hill, and then Mrs. Manning left 
them, and went back to the hotel by the only street 
which can boast of size or importance in Avignon, 
while the others pursued their way through little, 
narrow, ill-smelling lanes, and past small and miser- 
able houses to the river. 

In this closely built district they were protected 
somewhat from the mistral, but when they emerged 
into the open road that lay along the bank of the 
Rhone, they were almost swept away by the force 
of the wind. However, they struggled on, and were 
able to walk as far as the Chapel of St. Benezet, 
which was built on the bridge in the fifteenth cen- 
tury. At this point Hope’s excitement reached a 
climax. Forgetting the wind, forgetting the un- 
reliability of modern hat-pins, in her delight at 
finding herself where she was, she let go her hold 
of her hat, clapped her hands, and began to sing the 
old song. A great gust came whistling over the 
river at this unlucky moment, and away went 
Hope’s hat, pins and all, straight into the path of a 


192 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

young man who was standing at a short distance 
from them on the bridge, but whom they had not 
before noticed. 

This young man had been enjoying their conver- 
sation, and had also heard Hope’s singing, for the 
wind carried the sound, as well as the hat, directly 
to him. With a quick movement, he caught the 
latter, and brought it at once to its owner. 

“ Here it is ! ” he said, lifting his own hat, and 
speaking with a pleasant smile and a look of fun in 
his eyes. “ I am glad I happened to be just where 
I was.” 

“ I am glad you were ! ” exclaimed Hope, as she 
took the hat and pinned it on again. “ Thank you, 
ever so much ! ” And how nice it is not to have to 
say, Merci, Monsieur You are an American, of 
course.” 

“ I am, and so are you, I am sure. There is no 
disguising that fact among ourselves, is there } 
And I am glad of it, too.” 

“ So am I ; and I am ever so much obliged to you 
for saving my hat. Avignon shops didn’t look 
promising for buying a new one.” 

“ Come, Hope. It is time we went back to the 
hotel,” said Diana. She bowed in a somewhat 
distant fashion to the stranger. Reginald lifted his 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 1 93 

cap, Hope nodded in her most friendly way, and 
they left the bridge. 

The American walked in the other direction, and 
then, when they had had time to get some distance 
away, he turned and followed them to the town. 

“ Two sisters and a brother, I suppose,” he said 
to himself, “ though they don’t look in the least 
alike. I wish I might meet them again. Hope ! 
What a charming name. The handsome girl with 
the dark eyes was rather freezing in her dignity. 
Perhaps I may run across them again some day, 
and can make her understand that I am quite 
harmless.” 

In the meantime the girls went back to Mrs. 
Manning, and recounted to her their adventure. 

“ He was a gentleman,” said Hope, “ and very 
good-looking. Tall and broad, and so nice-looking! 
I should think he was quite old ; twenty-eight at 
least. I should have liked to talk longer to him, 
but Di put on her grande dame^ Beacon Street air, 
and grew at least a head taller than usual, and practi- 
cally ordered me home.” 

“ You were so intensely friendly, Hope. It is all 
very well to thank a man pleasantly for a small ser- 
vice, but you ! ” 

“ Do you call saving my beloved Knox hat a small 


194 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

service ? I call it a very big one. And I like cor- 
dial manners, and, besides, he was a gentleman. It 
was easy enough to see that, and an American. 
I am always so glad over here when I see a nice, 
honest, good, trustworthy, American man, that I feel 
like marching up to him, shaking him by the hand, 
and saying, ‘ Sir, I admire you ! ’ no matter where 
it may be nor who he is. And I give you fair 
warning, Di, that if we ever meet the man of the 
bridge anywhere else in the course of our travels, 
I shall bow to him in my best manner.” 

“ Hope ! ” 

Hope glanced mischievously at Mrs. Manning. 
She loved to startle Diana. 

In the meantime Reginald was reading his Bae- 
deker. “ Avignon is celebrated for something that 
I bet a sixpence you don’t know about,” said he. 
“ I’ll give a prize of a cake of chocolate to the 
one who guesses it.” 

“ My dear boy, you are not the only one of the 
party who studies Baedeker,” said Hope. “ It was in 
Avignon that Petrarch first saw Laura, and she died 
here, and was buried here.” 

“ Good ! I didn’t think you would get it on the 
first guess. I’ll give you the chocolate — when I 
buy some.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 195 

“ Read us what the guide-book says about it, 
Reggie,” said his mother. 

“‘In 1326 Francesco Petrarca, then twenty-two 
years of age, visited Avignon, and beheld Laura de 
Noves, who was in her eighteenth year, at the church 
of a nunnery. Her beauty impressed the ardent 
young Italian so profoundly that, although he never 
received the slightest token of regard from the 
object of his romantic attachment, he continued 
throughout his whole lifetime to celebrate her 
praises in songs and sonnets, and long after Laura’s 
death, in 1 348, dedicated many touching lines to her 
memory.’ ” 

“ How perfectly beautiful that was ! ” said Hope, 
who was very romantic, although she usually hid 
it beneath her fun and her sharp speeches. “Just 
imagine being so beautiful that a man, having once 
seen you, would love you forever after.” 

“ I would rather he loved me for myself than for 
my looks,” said Diana. 

“ Oh, I should like to be beautiful,” sighed Hope. 
“ I can’t imagine anything more delightful than to 
be absolutely, perfectly beautiful. Now, if I had 
only been more beautiful, the man on the bridge this 
afternooA would never forget me. Perhaps he is 
a poet, like Petrarch. Who knows And would 


196 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

forever after dedicate sonnets to the beautiful and 
hatless Laura.” 

“ Not a bit of it,” said Reginald. “ He is no 
poet, but a commonplace man ; from New England, 
probably.” 

“No New England man is commonplace ! ” cried 
Hope. 

“ Whew ! ” exclaimed Reginald, and he whistled 
a few bars of “ The Star-spangled Banner.” “ But 
to change the subject, which is becoming slightly 
embarrassing, as I am not a New England man, 
and am very jealous of your preference for them, 
who else do you suppose died here besides Petrarch’s 
Laura .? ” 

“John Stuart Mill,” replied Hope, as promptly 
as before; “a mere philosopher, he, and not nearly 
as interesting as the fascinating Laura.” 

“Good again!” said Reginald. “You shall have 
two cakes of chocolate — when I buy it.” 

“ I hope you will soon, for I eat it voraciously. 
• It seems to me that in Europe all my spare centimes, 
pfennigs, and sous in whatever country I happen to 
be, all my change in whatever coinage, goes for 
chocolate ; and the chocolate, a good half of it, went 
to Freddy. Never did I see a child with such a 
capacity for chocolate. Isn’t it odd not to have him 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. igy 

with US, tagging at our heels and keeping us for- 
ever on the jump ? ” 

“ Hope, what an expression ! ” 

“ I knew you wouldn’t approve, Di, and if I were 
at home I should say, ‘ on the vive' Being in 
France, I shall be very American, and say, ‘on the 
jump.’ ” 

“ I wonder how the other half of the party is 
getting on in Paris ? ” said Mrs. Manning. “ They 
must be quite settled there by this time.” 

“ Please don’t talk about them,” said Hope. “ I 
haven’t forgiven Lois yet for preferring the Web- 
sters to us; and just think what she is missing.” 

That night, when the girls were in their room, 
Hope was unusually quiet. 

“ What are you thinking about ? ” asked Diana, at 
last. “You have been in a brown study for the 
last fifteen minutes.” 

“ I was thinking of how pretty Lois is, and how 
dear she is, and wishing that she were with us. If 
she had been on the bridge this afternoon, and if the 
man on the bridge were a poet, I am sure he would 
write sonnets to her forever after.” 

“ ‘ If all the ifs were pots and pans,’ ” quoted 
Diana. “ It is a good thing they are not, and it is 
also a good thing that Lois wasn’t with us if the 


1 98 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

result would have been an endless chain of sonnets. 
I can’t imagine a greater waste of time and paper.” 

Hope turned and looked at Diana. “ In spite of 
your artistic proclivities,” said she, “you are the most 
hopelessly matter-of-fact person I have ever known.” 

They were to leave Avignon for Marseilles the 
next day. The morning dawned bright and clear, 
but the mistral was again in full force, and Mrs. 
Manning decided to remain quietly at the hotel 
until it was time to take the train, at a quarter after 
twelve. The girls and Reginald went for a walk 
around the outskirts of the town, where they could 
have a fine view of the ramparts, first leaving their 
luggage at the station, for it was more convenient 
for them not to go back to the hotel. They took a 
long walk, seeing much that was of interest, and 
then the girls went to the station, while Reginald 
returned to the hotel for his mother. They agreed 
that the girls should get into the train for Marseilles, 
when it came, without waiting for the Mannings, in 
order to secure a carriage. 

“ Of course we shall be here in good season,” said 
Reginald, “ for mother is always hours ahead of 
time, but something might detain us, and the train 
waits here twenty-five minutes. You would better 
get in when it comes along.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


199 


The girls went into the big station, and amused 
themselves for a time by watching the people. They 
had their tickets through to Marseilles, so they had 
nothing to attend to. 

“ I am glad of it,” said Hope. “ If there is one 
thing that I particularly dislike, it is to ask any- 
thing of these French railway officials. They sit 
in seclusion and elegant leisure behind those glass 
cases, and when you venture to ask them something 
quite necessary they whisper their replies, and 
don’t seem to like it at all if you don’t understand 
at once, and a murmur in French from behind 
glass is not easy to catch. However, I expect to 
be very proficient in the language before we 
leave the country. It is wonderful how well we 
get along.” 

“ Suppose we go out and walk up and down the 
platform,” suggested Diana. “ Why, there is the 
train ! Do you see ? It is marked ‘ a Marseilles' 
It is here already. Perhaps it starts from here after 
all, though Reggie thought it came through from 
Paris. Shall we get in } ” 

“ Why, yes, I think we’d better. We can pick 
out the very best-looking second-class carriage there 
is, and be as comfortable as possible. It is very 
early yet.” 


200 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


They did so, having first asked an official if this 
were the train for Marseilles, so as to be quite cer- 
tain, and presently they were established in it with 
all their bags and wraps. Hope began her study 
of the guide-book, while Diana gave herself up to 
dreams of all that she had seen, occasionally inter- 
rupted by bits of information from Hope. They 
soon became absorbed in this, and, as it was so 
early, they did not yet look for the Mannings, nor 
give them a thought. Neither did they heed the cry 
of the guard : “ En voiture. Messieurs ! En voiture, 
Messieurs et Mesdames ! ” which is the polite French 
equivalent for our American “ All aboard ! ” The 
first thing that aroused them was the slamming 
of their carriage door, and then, before they had 
realized what had happened, the train began to 
move. 

The girls stared at each other blankly. Hope 
was the first to recover her voice. “ Where are the 
Mannings ? ” she faltered. 

“ They must have got into another carriage, but it 
is strange that Reggie didn’t find us.” 

“ Very strange ; for of course he must have looked 
for us. Di, perhaps they have missed the train ! 
And yet that isn’t like Mrs. Manning. What shall we 
do.^ We oughtn’t to have got in until they came.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


201 


“ Of course we oughtn’t, but Reggie told us to 
secure a carriage. Shall we go to Marseilles, or get 
out somewhere and wait ? ” 

“ But they may be on the train, after all,” said 
Hope. “ They may have jumped on at the last 
minute. Perhaps they were detained by something, 
and got into any carriage they saw. Oh, for a good, 
open, American train, that we could walk through 
and look for them ! Oh, for an American conductor 
to speak to! No one will come near us until we 
reach the next stopping-place, and perhaps not 
then. What is the next stopping-place ? And is 
not it a mercy that we have our own tickets? 
Reggie wanted to keep them all, but I thought 
it was better not. That was certainly a lucky 
decision.” 

She had opened her “ Cook’s Continental Time- 
Table ” while she was speaking, and had begun to 
study the trains to Marseilles. 

“Tarascon is * the next stop,” said she, “and we 
wait there a long time. We arrive there at 12.16. 
It is only a little distance, and we don’t leave there 
until 1. 10, so we can look for them then. Of course 
we shall find them.” 

“ How can we arrive at 12.16, when we didn’t 
leave Avignon until 12.14?” 


202 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ That is odd, but it is only one of the oddities 
of a European time-table, I suppose.” 

Diana looked at her watch. “ But, Hope, it is 
only a quarter of twelve now ! ” 

“Your watch must be slow,” said Hope, as she 
looked at her own. It showed the same hour. 
“ Both of our watches must be slow. It’s funny that 
both should have lost in exactly the same way. It 
couldn’t be ” — she returned to the time-table. 
“ Di ! ” she exclaimed, growing quite white. 

“ What now ? ” 

“ My dear, there are two trains to Marseilles ! 
Look!” 

Diana seized the book. Then she drew back. 
“ I can’t read fine print, you know. Tell me ! ” 

“One leaves Avignon at 11.34; the other, that 
comes through from Paris, leaves Avignon at 12.14. 
The second one is the rapide, and gets to Marseilles 
an hour and a quarter before this one. Stupid 
idiots that we are, we got into the wrong train! 
No wonder the Mannings hadn’t come, more than 
half an hour before time. Now what shall we 
do?” 

It was, indeed, a question. They knew that the 
Mannings were no doubt equally agitated at not 
finding them, and it was impossible to guess what 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


203 


they would decide to do under the circumstances. 
They finally decided to keep on to Marseilles, hop- 
ing that their friends would come to the same con- 
clusion. 

“We can’t go back,” said Diana, “ or we should 
certainly miss them, even if there were a train to 
take us; and we can’t get out anywhere and wait, 
for there is no means of communicating with them 
and letting them know where we are waiting. In 
America we could telegraph to the train and to the 
Avignon station, but we shouldn’t know how to 
manage it here. What is this place ? ” 

They had stopped, backed, and stopped again. 
On one side was a platform, on the other a motion- 
less and apparently empty train. 

“ This is Tarascon,” said Hope, miserably, “ and 
we have to wait here nearly an hour. If we only 
could see something ! ” 

“ I am thankful there is no one in the carriage 
with us ; it might have been very disagreeable. Let 
us open the window, Hope, and look up and down 
the platform. We might see a guard.” 

They lowered the window with some difficulty 
and looked up and down the long platform. There 
was no station on that side, and only a blank 
wall. Their train seemed to extend for miles in 


204 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


either direction. There must have been at least 
thirty carriages. 

“ I have never seen such a long train in my life,” 
said Hope, drawing in her head. “ The station 
must be on the other side. There isn’t a creature 
in sight.” 

She resumed her study of the time-table. “We 
actually have to wait here to let the other train 
pass! Was there ever anything more maddening? 
And perhaps the Mannings are in it I Di, I have 
an idea I Perhaps they will let us get on that train I 
It stops at Tarascon. At any rate we could try.” 

“ But how shall we get to the station ? There 
seem to be ever so many trains waiting on that 
side.” 

“ We will go around behind them. Quick I We 
haven’t a moment to lose. See if we can open the 
door.” 

They leaned from the window and tried to turn 
the handle of the carriage door — there was none on 
the inside. After some difficulty they succeeded in 
opening the door. 

“ I was afraid we might be locked in,” said Hope. 
“ For small mercies let us be thankful I ” 

They seized their luggage and hurried along the 
platform. If it had seemed long to look at, it was 





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THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


205 


doubly SO to traverse laden with bags and umbrellas, 
and ignorant, as they were, as to what they should 
find at the other end of it. They found railroad 
tracks innumerable, which they crossed running. 
Away on the other side of the tracks was the station. 
A number of people were standing there, waiting 
for the Paris-Marseilles express. Among them was 
a man in uniform. 

“ He must be an official,” said Hope. “We will 
ask him.” 

She mustered her best French, and with many 
Monsieur and “/// vous she explained 

the situation, and asked if they could get on the 
other train when it came. The man in uniform was 
not a railway official, but an army officer. He 
twirled his little mustache, and replied so rapidly 
that Hope could not quite understand what he said, 
but from his manner she guessed that he was im- 
pertinent. The color rose in her cheeks as she 
turned away. Another man in uniform was stand- 
ing near. She must try again, for the time was 
going fast ; the train was due in four minutes. 
This effort was more successful, for this man was a 
railway official. He listened politely enough, but he 
did not seem inclined to grant their request. He 
took their tickets and examined them with a dubi- 


206 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


ous air, turning them over and over, and looking at 
them on both sides. The army officer sauntered up 
to the group, and one or two other persons, who all 
stared curiously at the two young girls. Both Hope 
and Diana wished with all their hearts that they 
had never left the seclusion of their slow train on 
the other side of the station. What should they do ? 
They glanced at each other helplessly. And then 
suddenly a voice spoke in English. 

“ Good morning ! What is the trouble } Can I 
do anything for you ? ” 

They turned quickly, and saw the American 
whom they had met the day before on the bridge 
at Avignon. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN. 


how glad I am to see you!” cried Hope. 

V>/ “ I know you can help us. We want to get 
on the train for Marseilles that will be here in a few 
minutes.” 

She explained the situation to him in as few 
words as possible. Already they could hear the 
sound of the approaching train. Her new friend 
turned at once to the officials and spoke with an 
air of authority. 

“ Without doubt,” said he in French, “ their 
tickets are good for this train. These young 
ladies made a mistake in leaving Avignon. Their 
mother and brother are on the rapide. You will 
permit them to join them. Monsieur ? ” 

“ Bien ! ” said the man, while the bystanders 
dispersed as the train came to a halt. 

“ You would better get in here,” said the American, 
pointing to a carriage. “ It is for ladies only, and is 
second class. I think your tickets are for that. I 
will look for your mother and brother. I suppose I 

207 


208 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


should recognize him,” he added somewhat doubt- 
fully. 

Hope had been gazing anxiously up and down 
the line of carriages. “ Suppose they are not on it, 
after all,” she whispered to Diana. “ What are we 
to do .? ” 

But just at that minute they saw Reginald in the 
distance, running up the platform, and they hurried 
to meet him. 

“Well,” said he, “of all the unlucky scrapes! 
But this is better than we hoped for. Here they 
are, mother, safe and sound I The train is very 
crowded, so one of you get in here with mother, and 
I will find seats somewhere else. Don’t leave the 
train again until we reach Marseilles. I am afraid 
to trust you out of my sight after this.” 

In the confusion the nameless American had 
disappeared. Diana got into the carriage with Mrs. 
Manning, while Hope and Reginald found seats in 
another, and very soon the train started. Explana- 
tions now poured thick and fast. The other 
passengers in the compartment with Hope and 
Reginald looked at them with curiosity. They 
were all French people from the provinces, and they 
told one another that they had never seen such 
animated Anglaises!' 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 20g 

“ We didn’t know what to do,” said Reginald, 
“and mother was in a regular pepper-jig. We 
looked for you everywhere and asked, but what was 
the use of asking ? Then I found out that another 
train went to Marseilles, so I looked it up, and we 
decided that you must be on it, so I persuaded 
mother to come on this and we would certainly 
find you at Marseilles. She didn’t want to leave 
Avignon. She was sure you had been kidnapped, 
but I told her it would take a clever Frenchman to 
kidnap Hope. But how did you ever happen to 
run across the man we met on the bridge ? ” 

Hope gave him a graphic description of their 
adventures from the time of their leaving Avignon. 
“ We should be arguing with that official still if the 
‘ Man on the Bridge ’ hadn’t come along. I do like 
a man who knows how to order people around. I 
wish, though, that he hadn’t disappeared so quickly, 
for we had not time to thank him. I wish you 
would look him up, Reggie, and do it. He thinks 
that you and your mother are our brother and 
mother. If we only knew his name ! I wonder 
how he got to the Tarascon station.” 

“ He probably left Avignon last night. I dare say 
we shan’t see him again, for no doubt he is doing 
all these small places along here. I am glad, though, 


210 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


that he turned up when he did, for it must have 
been mighty uncomfortable for you with all those 
French fellows standing around and staring. See 
here, Hope, I wish after this you would be more 
careful to keep with us. Don’t go off on your own 
hook as you did this morning.” 

Hope looked at him, and then she threw back her 
head and laughed. She had a merry laugh, and 
their fellow-passengers smiled in sympathy. “ You 
are too delicious ! It was you who gave directions 
this morning, which we followed implicitly. You 
suggested our waiting at the Avignon station in- 
stead of going back to the hotel, and you told us 
to get into the Marseilles train and secure seats ; 
and I think we were pretty clever to get out of that 
train and into this.” 

“ Well, so you were.” 

“ I should like to see you managing such a close 
connection ! But, Reggie, I wish you would try to 
find that American. I would really like to thank 
him.” 

“ Oh, he’s all right,” said Reginald. “ I am not 
going to leave you, you may be sure of that. It 
was what any fellow would have done for two 
damsels in distress.” 

“ But any fellow would like to be thanked, and 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


2II 


this damsel, at least, would like to thank him. Just 
look in the other compartments of this carriage and 
see if by any chance he is there.” 

The train was different from the one they had 
left, the three compartments of each carriage open- 
ing upon a narrow corridor. Reginald did as she 
requested, but failed to find their nameless friend. 

“ It is a very long train,” said he. “ Of course he 
is in another carriage.” 

“ He has helped me out of two difficulties,” said 
Hope, “ and he really ought to be thanked. I wish 
he would turn up a third time.” 

They arrived at Marseilles in good season, and 
very glad they all were that their adventure had 
ended as it did. 

“ Fancy our getting here alone and not finding 
you ! ” said Diana. “ What a vast place this station 
is!” 

They spent but two hours in the great, bustling 
city, for they were going on to Hyeres that night, 
but it seemed long enough. There were crowds of 
rough-looking sailors in the streets from all parts 
of the world, the boulevards were thronged with 
people, and in front of the many cafes were small 
tables placed upon the sidewalks, at which sat men 
and women, conversing volubly and staring at the 


212 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


passers-by while they partook of refreshment of 
various kinds. 

To American eyes it all seemed very strange. 
They saw the wonderful harbor crowded with the 
ships of every nation, and then, after having given 
all the time that they could spare to the animated 
and interesting sight, they returned to the station, 
and took the train for Hyeres. It was a beautiful 
evening, and the mistral having ceased for a time to 
blow, it seemed like the close of a May day at home. 
Their journey to the south had brought them with 
quick transition to days of greater length and of 
a soft, balmy temperature that seemed very deli- 
cious after the bleak German climate. The groves 
of olive trees, the glimpses of the Mediterranean, so 
strangely, deeply blue, here and there an old chateau 
set in a background of the dull green foliage of 
southern France, the train now plunging into a 
tunnel of apparently interminable length, then 
emerging once more into the light and air; 
rushing past salt marshes and fisheries, and skirting 
the foot of the mountains which lie so near the 
coast, — all these things combined to make a scene 
of rare beauty in the waning light. 

It was dark when they arrived at Toulon, where 
they changed, and shortly afterward they reached 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


213 


Hyeres. There was no moon, and the roads were 
but dimly lighted, but from the windows of the 
omnibus in which they drove to the hotel they could 
partially distinguish the strange shapes of the palm 
trees, which at Hyeres line both sides of every avenue. 
The party was warmly welcomed by the proprietor, 
his wife, and all of his assistants. 

“ They are so cordial,” said Hope, “ that it actually 
gives you a feeling of affection for them. I feel 
as if I had known them always, and had come to 
make them a long-promised visit, instead of which, 
to-morrow morning we shall embark upon a long 
argument as to terms, haggling over every sou and 
fraction of a sou, I wish we might stay in this 
hotel, but I am afraid it will be too expensive. We 
shall have to find a pension^ 

But there are few pensions at Hyeres, and the 
proprietor of the Hotel des lies d’Hyeres had no 
intention of allowing them to leave him. It was 
precisely as Hope had predicted: a long, animated 
conversation, and much difference of opinion as 
to the true value of the rooms available. A com- 
promise was finally effected, however, and a bargain 
made, and before nightfall they were established in 
rooms which were bright and comfortable. Each 
room had a single bed surmounted by a white- 


214 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


draped canopy, a chest of drawers, a mirror over 
the mantelpiece, and an open grate large enough 
for the moderate wood fire that is considered suffi- 
cient to warm a room in southern Europe. 

“ And, of course,” said Hope, as she looked about 
and noted these things, “each room has a clock 
on the mantelpiece that won’t go. The number of 
stopped clocks in Europe is really amazing; we 
have had them everywhere. The hotel and pension 
proprietors must buy them cheap by the dozen to 
use as ornaments only.” 

The rooms could only be reached by a weary 
climb over three flights of stairs, but the wonderful 
view from the windows atoned for this. On one 
side, beyond the palm-lined avenue, was the Medi- 
terranean three miles away. On the other, the dark 
range of hills, and at their feet, and straggling up 
over one of the hills, the quaint old town. The 
gardens and the open squares, where beggars 
lounged in the sun, were near at hand, and at the 
top of the hill and outlined against the sky were 
the square turrets of an ancient castle now in 
ruins. 

It was Carnival time when the American party 
came to Hyeres, and Reginald, who went out to 
explore the town while the others were making the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 21 $ 

bargain, came rushing back with a wonderful piece 
of news. 

“ There is to be a flower battle this afternoon,” 
said he. “ There are great signs everywhere, 
^ Bataille des Fleurs^ We must be sure to go. 
What fun it is here ! Aren’t you glad you came 1 ” 

To this they all agreed eagerly, and when 
dejeuner had been eaten, at twelve o’clock, they 
sallied forth to see the show. They followed the 
crowds of people, who were all going in one direc- 
tion, until they came to a point where two roads 
met, and here the spectators made a halt. Pres- 
ently the maskers came trooping along, half a dozen 
or more together, on their way to the field where 
the battle was to take place. There were men in 
false noses and fantastic costumes ; some were 
riding hobby-horses, and there were others in 
horses’ heads ; while one who represented a tame 
bear was led by a keeper. There were groups of 
gayly dressed girls, there were chariots, and people 
on horseback; and following them came a motley 
throng of beggars, peasants, and townspeople, troop- 
ing to see the fun. 

The crowd became so great that Mrs. Manning 
and the girls decided to follow it no farther, and 
turned back, but Reginald kept on, determined to 


2i6 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


lose nothing that there was to be seen. The others 
took a walk, and then returned to the hotel. From 
the windows of one of their rooms they watched the 
open square, upon one side of which the hotel 
stood ; and after the show was over the maskers 
and people thronged back to this part of the town. 
The girls opened the windows wide, and, hanging 
far out, they gazed down upon the strange and fas- 
cinating scene. 

There were old, old peasant women in white caps, 
bent nearly double, and leaning on sticks ; there 
were maskers, beggars, English people, priests. 
King Carnival himself on horseback, girls on bicy- 
cles, boys in long cloaks, automobiles, donkey-carts, 
dogs, and open barouches full of people. 

And then, strange, sad sight, came a funeral. 
The priests, four or five abreast, in their white 
cottas and gorgeous vestments, led the way. Then 
came the open vehicle that served as hearse, then 
two little girls behind it, — the chief mourners, alas ! 
— and then a small group of men, all on foot. They 
came through the crowd, which parted for them, 
the men raising their hats respectfully, as they do 
in foreign countries when the dead pass by. Then 
it closed again behind them, paying no further heed. 
The little procession walked up a narrow street. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


217 


and disappeared over the brow of the hill. It was 
forgotten. This was Carnival time ; why give 
thought to death } And perhaps last year he who 
now lay so still was chief among the maskers. 

“ Imagine such a scene as this at home,” said 
Hope. “ And how they are all talking ! Do you 
hear them } And look ! There is Reggie in the 
thick of it all. What a boy he is ! But I should 
like to be there myself — though, after all, it is 
almost as much fun to watch it from here. Di, 
that looks like — yes, I believe it is! Look, Di, 
quick! Right in the middle of the square just 
beyond that little donkey-cart ! It is he ! ” 

“ Who, Hope 1 Whom are you talking about ? 
Reggie is over on the other side now.” 

“ I don’t mean Reggie at all. It is the Ameri- 
can, the ‘ Man on the Bridge.’ I have lost sight 
of him now. Ah, there he is! He is helping that 
old peasant woman. She would have been run 
over. Isn’t he kind ? ” 

“ He is always coming to the rescue of females 
in distress, apparently. How remarkable that he 
should turn up here, and still more remarkable 
that you should have discovered him in that throng 
of people.” 

“ I wish Reggie might meet him. I do want to 


2I8 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


thank him for what he did for us. Do you suppose 
he is going to stay any length of time at Hyeres.?*” 

“ My dear child, you might just as well ask me if 
the mistral will blow to-morrow.” 

“To that you could safely answer yes, so I will 
take the same answer to the question I put to you.” 

“ But what difference can it possibly make to us 
whether he stays or not? We shan’t meet him 
unless he is at this hotel, and at any rate we don’t 
know anything about him.” 

“ We know that he is a gentleman, and a kind 
man, and I, for my part, want to know him better. 
I hope he is going to stay at Hyeres. There! I 
see him again now, and there is Reggie coming 
toward the hotel. They haven’t met. What a 
pity!” 

When Reginald came in she begged him to go 
out again and look for their mysterious friend, but 
he told her that a needle in a haystack would be 
an easy game compared to searching in that crowd 
for a man whom he had seen but twice, and then 
only for a minute at a time. In looking from the 
window they did not catch sight of him again, and 
as it was almost dinner-time the girls reluctantly 
drew in their heads and went to their rooms to 
dress. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 219 

Their seats at table cThbte were in a row, that of 
Hope being at the end of the line, with Mrs. Man- 
ning on one side of her and an elderly French- 
woman on the other. There were no other 
English-speaking people in the house, but the 
Americans did not regret this, for it gave them an 
opportunity to improve their French. Hope began 
valiantly to converse, but she soon found to her 
chagrin that, though her neighbor seemed able to 
understand her, she, on her part, could not imagine 
what was being said to her in reply unless she asked 
to have it repeated several times. In addition to 
the fact that the old lady had no teeth, she spoke 
in a sort of patois, and with the upward inflection 
of the voice that is peculiar to all foreigners, and the 
combination of these three things made quick com- 
prehension difficult. 

“ I am going to keep at it, though,” said Hope to 
Mrs. Manning. “ I am sure it is a patois and will 
spoil my fine Parisian accent, but I am going to 
talk to her.” Then she turned again to her neigh- 
bor. “ Madame, did you go to the battle of the 
flowers 't ” 

“ I, Mademoiselle ! Why, I am in mourning ! ” 

Hope was so discouraged by this that she made no 
further effort that night to pursue the conversation, 


220 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


and she turned her attention to the other people 
at the table, who were amusing to watch and 
who afforded the newcomers plenty of entertain- 
ment. 

The next evening the old lady addressed her first. 
“ Have you walked out to-day } ” 

“ Oh, yes, Madame ; I have been out nearly all 
day.” 

The lady turned to her daughter, who sat on her 
other side. “ She has been out all day ! ” This news 
was so astounding that the daughter leaned forward 
and stared at Hope. 

The next evening this conversation was re- 
peated with a few additions. “ Do you not drink 
wine ? ” 

“No, Madame; I prefer water.” 

Madame was silent from astonishment. Then 
she said, with the suppressed elation of one who 
has made a discovery : “ There are three things 
in which you English differ from the French : you 
drink water instead of wine ; you like the open air ; 
and you walk many kilometres in the day.” 

“ But we are not English, Madame. We are 
Americans.” 

“ It is all the same thing,” replied Madame, with an 
air of finality. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


221 


In a day or two came a letter from Lois. It was 
addressed to both of the girls, and they took it with 
them to a neighboring garden, where Hope read it 
aloud. 

“My dearest Dears: I have been longing to 
write to you before this, but, except for the postal 
card that I sent you when we arrived, I have not 
had a moment to scratch a line. Paris is too per- 
fect ! I never imagined anything half so delightful. 
If only you were both here with us I should be 
perfectly happy. Di would have so much to interest 
her that would not hurt her eyes. The shops are 
enough amusement apart from everything else. I 
am hoping that you will get tired of Hyeres and 
come here sooner than you planned. We are in a 
charming pension kept by an American. There are 
some very nice people in the house. Mrs. Webster 
loves it, and Freddy has some boys to play with, and 
that allows us more freedom. Doctor Manning 
came to see us last evening. I shall have to give up 
calling him ‘ Sir Galahad,’ for I very nearly called 
him that to his face. He is certainly very handsome, 
and he is perfectly charming. He seemed to enjoy 
the call, and he has asked us to go to the Louvre and 
to do one or two other things with him, although he 


222 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


has not very much time. His hospital work keeps 
him very much occupied, but once in a while he has 
an afternoon to himself. 

“ Mrs. Webster ordered some lovely clothes this 
morning, and I am having a dinner gown made. 
We may have some invitations, you know, and in 
London, too, I shall certainly need it. It is of white 
gauzy, silky stuff, and is to be touched off in the 
most charming way with silver, and with a mere 
suspicion of blue, required, the dressmaker said, by 
‘ les yeux de Mademoiselle.’ And speaking of eyes, 
I hope that yours are better, Di darling, and that 
you are both having a lovely time, dear girls. We 
miss Hope awfully on the accounts. I get very 
much muddled, but, as Mrs. Webster says, it doesn’t 
make so very much difference if they don’t come out 
just right. In Europe you must spend money or 
there is no use in coming. 

“ I had a letter from mother, and I think she does 
not altogether approve of my leaving you. Of 
course she does not understand that it was much 
better for us all to do as we wished. If it had made 
any real difference to either of you, I should not 
have left you, but you do not need me and Mrs. 
Webster does. Be sure to write me all your 
adventures, and do write often. Give my love to 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


223 


Mrs. Manning and Reggie, and tell them how glad 
we were to see Doctor Manning. 

“ Devotedly yours,” 

“ Lois.” 

Hope’s voice ceased, and she folded up the letter 
and replaced it in the envelope. Diana was the 
first to break the silence that followed. 

“ She seems to be having a very good time.” 

“ Doing what ? Ordering dinner gowns and go- 
ing to the shops ! ” 

“ Well, she likes that.” 

“ I can’t bear to see her growing selfish.” 

“ You can scarcely call Lois selfish, Hope. 
Look at her devotion to Mrs. Webster.” 

“ I know. But somehow that doesn’t seem 
worthy of her. Perhaps, though, this is all 
jealousy on my part. I suppose I don’t want to 
give Lois up to any other friend, but really I 
think I shouldn’t mind if Mrs. Webster were a 
different kind of a woman. If she only had ‘a 
soul above buttons ’ ! Evidently Mrs. Putnam 
didn’t approve of Lois leaving us, but she chose to 
go, and I suppose it isn’t worth while for us to 
worry about it.” 

“ I am so sorry about it all,” said Diana ; “ I feel 


224 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


as if it were entirely my fault, for we shouldn’t have 
come south for any other reason than my eyes. I 
blame myself very much.” 

“You are a dear and provoking idiot,” said 
Hope, “ with the most ridiculously exaggerated 
New England conscience I ever heard of. As 
if you could help your condition, or the doctor’s 
orders. For my part, I am glad we were obliged 
to come to this fascinating country, and I am not 
a bit sorry to exchange Mrs. Webster and Freddy 
for Mrs. Manning and Reginald. I am glad they 
miss me on the accounts, if at no other time. 
Isn’t Lois funny She is so matter-of-fact.” 

After dejeuner that day Mrs. Manning and 
her three young companions took their coffee in 
her room as usual, Reginald presiding at the big- 
gin, and they then discussed their plans for the 
afternoon. It was soon decided by unanimous 
vote that they should go to La Plage. This is 
a small resort on the shore of the Mediterranean, 
and, being only three miles from Hyeres, various 
means are provided for getting there. It is the 
next station on the railroad, and there is also an 
omnibus which runs several times a day between 
the two places. 

They decided to go over in the omnibus and 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 225 

come back by train, unless they wished to walk.* 
It was a charming drive over the hard white 
roads of Provence. The day was bright and sunny, 
but the mistral was blowing, and as they approached 
the sea it grew perceptibly colder. They left the 
omnibus and walked to the beach. The road ran 
parallel with the water for some distance, and 
was lined with villas, half hidden in the depths of 
foliage. On the other hand was a little row of 
bath-houses, against a background of dense green 
trees. The land beyond on either side jutted far 
out into the water, and out to sea could be seen the 
faint outline of distant islands. 

The Americans stood in the shelter of the bath- 
houses looking at the view, but the wind was too 
cold for them to stay there long. 

“ I never expected to be half frozen when I was 
standing for the first time on the shores of the 
Mediterranean,” said Mrs. Manning. “ It is really 
icy.” 

“ There is a public garden of some kind here,” 
said Reginald ; “ perhaps it is more protected there. 
At any rate we ought to see it.” 

They walked up the road and entered a large 
and carefully laid out garden. It was filled with 
palm trees, orange trees, roses, jonquils, and other 


Q 


226 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


lovely plants in full bloom, and the well-kept paths 
led through shady ways to one beautiful vista after 
another. Hope, looking at the ground, gave a 
sudden shriek and stood still. 

“ What is it ? ” exclaimed the others. 

“ Look ! Have you ever seen anything like 
this } Caterpillars ! Millions of odious, horrible, 
crawling caterpillars ! ” 

Crossing the path was a long, unbroken line of 
yellow caterpillars marching very slowly, one close 
behind the other. They climbed a little hill and 
there disappeared beneath the bushes. 

“ I am going to count them,” said Reginald. 

They all stood looking at them, stooping over 
and quite fascinated by the odd sight. Reginald 
had reached one hundred and twenty-seven in his 
count when they were startled by the sound of 
irrepressible laughter. Standing near and watch- 
ing them with much amusement was the American 
of the Avignon bridge. He lifted his hat, bowed, 
and disappeared among the trees. 

Hope turned to Diana. “ It was he ! ” she 
exclaimed tragically. “ He was there, and he has 
gone ! ” 

“He is a will o’ the wisp,” said Diana. 

“ First you see him and then you don’t,” said 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


227 


Reginald; “like a conjurer’s trick, and like that, 
warranted to appear in the most unexpected places. 
Perhaps he will turn up in my pocket. Cheer up, 
Hope ! We’ll catch him somewhere yet. Don’t 
you worry.” 

Hope looked scornfully at the teasing Reggie. 
“ You think you are so smart! ” said she. “ I only 
want to thank him. No one else seems to realize 
all he did for us. Reginald, I wish you had been 
quick enough to speak to him before he disappeared. 
Perhaps he is shy or something, and doesn’t want 
to appear pushing.” 

“ He must be ‘something,’ then, for he wasn’t too 
shy to laugh at us, and we must have looked funny, 
all stooping over those caterpillars. Perhaps we 
shall run across him again before we leave La 
Plage.” 

But they returned to Hyeres without seeing their 
mysterious fellow-countryman again. 


CHAPTER TWELVE. 

“ “F FEEL that we have done the right thing,” said 
Mrs. Webster, looking about her with an air 
of satisfaction. “ At last we are where we should 
be, and doing what I, for one, came to Europe to 
do.” 

It was a few days after their arrival in Paris. 
They were established in a pension on a wide and 
handsome street near V Arc de VEtoile. It was kept 
by an American woman, and Mrs. Webster had 
been advised by friends to go there. It was a large 
house, the salon filled with gilded furniture and the 
walls covered with mirrors, and there were electric 
lights, a lift, and other luxuries which they had 
failed to find in pensions in other places. In short, 
there was an atmosphere of elegance, of Parisian fine 
living, that rejoiced Mrs. Webster, and to which 
Lois was not averse. 

“ And we have made excellent arrangements,” 
continued Mrs. Webster; “I doubt if Hope Con- 
way could have done better, or as well. Hope 

228 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


229 


always worried so about the expenses and the ac- 
counts that it made me quite nervous. The less 
one thinks of those things the better.” 

“ I wish the girls were here,” said Lois. “ I am 
sure they would like it. I wish they were here.” 

Mrs. Webster looked annoyed. “ I am sorry you 
are not satisfied,” she said, in her sweet, drawling 
voice. 

“Oh, but I am, dear Mrs. Webster!” cried the 
girl. 

“No, you are not. You are not contented to be 
here only with me. I thought we were going to 
have such a lovely time together, just you and I 
and Freddy, and now you are longing for those 
girls.” 

“ Indeed, I am not,” persisted Lois, feeling very 
much distressed. “ I am having a perfect time. I 
only wanted Diana and Hope to see it and enjoy it 
with us. You know we three have always done 
things together, and it seems strange not to have 
them with us. I should like to have them see Paris, 
that is all.” 

“ They will see it in time. We had become too 
large a party. In fact, even before we met the Man- 
nings at Wiesbaden we were too many. Five is a 
wretched number.” 


230 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


Lois refrained from reminding her that she knew 
just how many would be in the party before they 
left America. Mrs. Webster had a way of saying 
disagreeable things so sweetly that Lois could always 
pardon them. She was completely captivated by 
the elder woman. It was one of those cases that are 
not uncommon. The young girl had long ceased to 
reason about her attachment; she was blind to her 
friend’s defects of character, her selfishness, her lack 
of self-reliance, and her obstinacy, which is so often 
the accompaniment of a weak nature. She was 
conscious only of Mrs. Webster’s great charm of 
manner, of her pretty, appealing ways, and her air 
of having never been obliged to look out for herself, 
of having all her life been cared for, as had been 
the case. 

Thus far on their trip Lois had had no responsi- 
bility, for Hope had shouldered it all. Lois had 
merely enjoyed life, with plenty of money in her 
pocket and much more in the inexhaustible coffers 
at home. She had found in their chaperon only a 
lovable and charming friend, with whom she had 
many tastes in common. It was rather a relief to 
Lois to be with some one who did not look upon art 
and self-improvement as a sort of religion, and who 
found in trinkets and pretty clothes an amount of 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 23 1 

pleasure which no doubt shocked Diana and Hope, 
but with which she herself was in perfect sympathy. 

She was not usually very demonstrative, but now 
she got up and crossed the room. She knelt down 
by Mrs. Webster, who was lying on the sofa. 

“ How can you think that I am not glad to be 
here just with you.?^” she said. “You are so sweet 
and dear, and I know we are going to have a lovely 
time together.” 

“ You are sweet and dear,” returned Mrs. Web- 
ster, caressing Lois’s curly hair with her little deli- 
cate hand, “and as pretty as a picture. We must 
get you some pretty clothes, darling. We will 
begin to-morrow. I love to choose them. And 
now, dear, if you will see that Freddy is quite safe 
and is amused with something, I will rest a little 
while, so as to be fresh for this evening. I have no 
doubt that Arthur Manning will come again. Don’t 
let me be disturbed for anything this afternoon, will 
you? It makes such a difference in my whole day 
if I get three winks of sleep in the afternoon.” 

So Lois covered her with a silk blanket, darkened 
still further the already shaded room, and quietly 
left her. Her first thought was for Freddy. She 
found him wandering about the house with noth- 
ing to do, and a strong determination to go to his 


232 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


mother for amusement. Lois persuaded him to go 
upstairs with her to her room at the top of the 
house. 

“ It is rather good fun to look out of my window,” 
said she, “ and we will think of something to do.” 

“ Paris is the worst place yet,” said Freddy. 
“ Wiesbaden wasn’t so bad, because there was skat- 
ing, and Reggie, and a feller could speak to another 
feller. Brussels was beastly, but Paris is beastlier. I 
don’t see what there is to see from the window, Lois. 
Nothing but roofs and things. I want to go out.” 

“ It looks like rain.” 

“It always looks like rain when it isn’t really 
raining over here.” 

“ I heard a conundrum once about rain,” remarked 
Lois. 

“ What was it ? ” 

“ Well, it wasn’t exactly a conundrum, it was a 
sort of a catch. This was it: It either rains or it 
doesn’t rain. It doesn’t rain, does it } ” 

“ No.” 

“ Well, then it rains.” 

“ It doesn’t at all, Lois ! ” 

“ But you just agreed that it either rains or it 
doesn’t rain. It doesn’t rain, therefore it must 


ram. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


233 


“ Lois Putnam, I never heard anything so silly ! 
You can’t make me believe it’s raining when it isn’t !” 

“ It is pretty silly,” admitted Lois, going to the 
window. “ Let’s give up thinking about it.” 

“ I know a better one than that,” said Freddy. 
“ It’s about a door, but I can’t remember just how 
it goes. It’s something like this : When is a door 
not a door ? ” 

“ When it is a window ? ” hazarded Lois, who had 
heard the conundrum from her infancy up, but 
thought it more politic to feign ignorance. 

“ No ! ” laughed Freddy, derisively. “ Give it up .? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ When it’s a vase.” 

“ A vase } What do you mean .? ” 

“Oh, don’t you know.f^ I guess I’ve got the 
wrong word. A vase, a bowl, something to hold 
things. You know, when a door is a little way 
open. It’s a — a — oh, what is that word 1 It’s an 
awful good conundrum.” 

“ A little way open } Ajar ? ” 

“ Yes, that’s it ! Don’t you see ? When is a door 
not a door ? When it’s a jar. I knew it was some- 
thing of that kind.” 

“ It reminds me of one that Hope made up once,” 
said Lois. “ When is a ball-player a piece of china ? ” 


234 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


Freddy guessed in vain. At last he gave it up. 

“ When he’s a pitcher,” said Lois. 

“ My, that’s good ! Did Hope really make that 
up herself } She’s awful smart, Hope is. She’s a 
great deal smarter than you are, Lois.” 

“ I know it,” said Lois, humbly. 

“You think a heap of your blue eyes and your 
yellow hair,” went on Freddy, merciless as only a 
small boy can be, “ but you’re not in it with Hope 
for smartness. Why, she can keep everybody laugh- 
ing for five minutes at a time, when she wants to. 
I say, Lois, let’s go out.” 

“ I don’t like to, without your mother.” 

“ Why not ? Mother won’t care.” 

“ But it is Paris.” 

“ What of that ? Why can’t you go out in Paris 
as well as anywhere else ? ” 

Lois found it difficult to explain. “ We don’t 
know the way,” she said. 

“ Neither did we know the way in Brussels or 
Weisbaden or any of the other places when we first 
got there.” 

“ But there were more of us.” 

“ What of that ? And besides, you were always 
the one who found the way the easiest. There 
now ! that’s no excuse. Put on your things, Lois, 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 235 

do ? I’m going anyhow, whether you do or not, 
and you know mother won’t like that.” 

“Well, we mustn’t go very far from here,” said Lois, 
yielding at last, and getting out her hat and jacket 
and her big fur boa. Freddy watched her as she 
moved about the room and stood before the mirror. 

“You like the way your little yellow curls hang 
out over your boa, don’t you 1 ” he remarked amiably. 
“ You needn’t get so red in the face over it.” 

“ I wish you wouldn’t make such personal re- 
marks,” replied Lois, loftily. 

“ Why, that was an awfully personal remark I 
heard Cecil Beauchamp saying to you, and you 
didn’t seem to mind a bit. You smiled and grinned 
and got pinker and pinker. He said — ” 

“ Never mind what he said. I heard him. Are 
you ready For I am.” 

“ He said your eyes — ” 

“ Freddy, unless you stop talking and go and get 
your hat this instant, I won’t go out.” 

“ All right. I’ll tell you another time what he said, 
just so that you won’t forget,” cried Freddy, jeer- 
* ingly, as he ran off to get his cap. 

“ That dreadful child ! ” sighed Lois. Then she 
looked again in the mirror, settled her hat more to 
her satisfaction, and went downstairs. 


236 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

They had opened the front door and were about 
to go out, when a young man came up the steps. 

“ Why, Doctor Manning ! ” exclaimed Lois. “ I am 
glad to see you, and so glad we did not miss you.” 

“ So am I,” said he, as they shook hands. “ I 
have an hour or two to myself this afternoon, and 
I thought I would take advantage of it. Is Mrs. 
Webster at home.f^” 

“Yes, but she is lying down. She wanted to 
rest. However, I will tell her you are here.” 

“ Oh, no, not on any account. And you are just 
going out, so I won’t detain you.” 

“ Oh, please come in,” said Lois. “ Freddy and I 
were only going for a little walk because we didn’t 
know what else to do. We shall be quite willing 
to stay at home.” 

“ Just please talk for yourself, Lois,” put in Freddy. 
“ I want to go out. Why can’t he go with us 'I ” 

“ V ery true,” said Manning ; “ why can’t I ? Where 
are you going } ” 

“ That is just what we don’t know. I haven’t been 
out alone before in Paris, and I am not sure that we 
ought to go.” 

“ It is all right for- you to do it up here, but I 
wouldn’t go to the boulevards or down among 
the shops alone if I were you. It might not be 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 237 

pleasant.” And then they started off at a brisk 
pace. 

They walked in the Champs Elysees and found 
it beautiful, even though the trees were bare and 
the threatening clouds hung low. The avenue was 
filled with carriages and the walks with pedestrians, 
and there was much of interest to be seen. 

“ I can scarcely realize that I am in Paris,” said 
Lois ; “ when you have heard all your life about a 
place, and have read about it, and studied about it, 
how hard it is to believe that you are actually seeing 
it with your own eyes.” 

“ I felt so, too, at first. Now I am more accus- 
tomed to being here. So much history has centred 
in Paris that one can’t help being tremendously in- 
terested. I try to imagine it sometimes as it was 
in the Revolution, or during the siege, which wasn’t 
so very long ago. And one has the feeling that 
anything may happen at any time here. Judging 
from the last hundred years, anything is possible, 
and that adds to the excitement of life here.” 

“Do you like being here?” 

“ Oh, I am very much interested, and I haven’t 
had time to see half or a quarter of what there is 
to be seen. My work takes most of my time.” 

“ And you like that ? ” 


238 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

“ My work ? Oh, yes ! ” A new look came into 
his face as he spoke. 

“ I suppose it is very interesting, but I can’t im- 
agine really liking to see so much suffering.” 

“ But it isn’t that. Miss Putnam ! ” said Arthur, 
eagerly. “We don’t like to see suffering, but we like 
to think that we are learning to relieve suffering.” 

“ Oh, yes, I know. That is the way Hope and 
Diana talk. Sometimes they even talk as if they 
would like to be trained nurses. I cannot under- 
stand it.” 

Manning was conscious of a little feeling of dis- 
appointment. The girl with whom he was walking 
was so pretty, so dainty and attractive. He had 
admired her very much on board the steamer,^ and 
he had been glad when he had learned that it was 
she who had come to Paris with Mrs. Webster. 
He was sorry that she did not feel as he did about 
his profession. Then he laughed at himself. 
“ What difference does it make to me } ” he thought. 
“ Why should I care because a girl whom I scarcely 
know doesn’t consider the profession of a surgeon 
the greatest in the world ? Even if she doesn’t, 
there is no reason why we shouldn’t become jolly 
good friends and have a jolly good time together.” 

“ I am awfully glad you are here,” he said aloud. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


239 


“ I don’t know many people here, and you are from 
home ; and then you have come so directly from my 
mother and Reggie that it is almost like seeing them.” 

They talked about his family for some time, and 
it made the two feel like old friends. Freddy was so 
much interested in all that he saw that he did not 
interrupt the conversation, but skipped along beside 
them, his eyes very wide open, and allowing little to 
escape their eager gaze. 

“ Here we are at the Place de la Concorde'^ said 
Manning. “ There is a hideous humor in the name, 
for it was here that the guillotine was placed in 
the Terror, and here that Louis XVI and Marie An- 
toinette and all the others were executed.” 

They stood and looked at the great open square 
so inappropriately named. To their left were the 
Jardins des Tuileries, and beyond the square was a 
bridge over the Seine. 

“Just fancy this place filled with angry, furious 
faces,” he continued, “ and the tumbrel rattling up 
with the victims huddled in it going bravely to 
their fate. They had been foolish, mistaken, even 
wicked, some of those thousands that were executed, 
but they all had courage. Innocent and guilty 
alike, they all dignified a miserable fate by the way 
they met death.” 


240 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


“Oh, don’t talk about it,” said Lois, shuddering. 
“ I hate to think of anything so dreadful. I like to 
think only of bright, pleasant things, not of revolu- 
tions and guillotines.” 

“ So do I,” said Manning ; “ but sometimes you 
come face to face with horror, and then you have to 
acknowledge that it exists. You can’t be in Paris 
and not think of the Reign of Terror.” 

“ Oh, there are plenty of other things,” said Lois, 
turning away with a light laugh. “ There are shops 
and pictures and gay people. Where would one 
look for gayety if not in Paris ? Hope would just 
suit you, for, although she is jolly and full of fun, she 
loves to ponder over past events, and moralize about 
life, and all such things. She talks sometimes like 
a woman of forty, instead of a girl of seventeen, and 
then in a minute she is funny and amusing again, 
and you would think she never could be serious.” 

“Yes, she is very bright,” said Arthur. “ I like 
Miss Conway, and Miss Stuart, too. I am sorry 
about Miss Stuart’s eyes. It must be a terrible 
disappointment to her.” 

“ Oh, yes, it is, and she bears it so beautifully. 
Sometimes I wonder if she can mind it as much as 
we think, but of course she does. Di is such a 
saint.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE> 


241 


“ She must be very unselfish to keep it all to her- 
self. If she came abroad to . see pictures and to 
study, it must be a terrible disappointment, apart 
from the physical suffering. My mother has grown 
very fond of her ; she thinks she is remarkable.” 

“ Di is a dear,” said Lois, heartily. “ You make 
me feel as if I hadn’t half appreciated how brave 
she has been. I hope the south is going to do her 
ever so much good.” 

When they returned to the pension Manning 
found that his leave of absence was almost over and 
he would barely have time to reach the hospital by 
the hour at which he was due. He was not a regu- 
larly appointed “ Interne,” but through the influence 
of certain persons had been granted the privilege of 
attending one of the great surgeons on his visits, 
and of studying French hospital work in a manner 
that would be of great use to him on his return to 
America. He left his apologies for not going in to 
see Mrs. Webster, said that he would come again 
as soon as possible, and hurried away. 

“ He’s a brick,” said Freddy, as they entered the 
house. “ When he laughs or smiles it makes a 
feller feel good all over.” 

Lois said nothing aloud. “ He is Sir Galahad,” 
she was thinking. 


242 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


They went up to Mrs. Webster’s room in the 
lift. They found that she had enjoyed her nap and 
was now sitting before the hearth, where a fire of 
tiny proportions crackled as cheerfully as could be 
expected from the size of the sticks that composed 
it. A tray stood on a table beside her, with a kettle 
and a tea-pot and some cups and saucers. One or 
two shaded candles lighted the room dimly and 
shone on the dainty little person who, in a lace- 
trimmed lavender tea-gown, lay back luxuriously in 
the big chair. 

“ Where have you been } ” she exclaimed, as Lois 
and Freddy came in. “ I have been very much 
worried ! It is almost dark, and I couldn’t imagine 
what to do. I seem fated to have these frights. I 
ordered tea without waiting for you, for I really 
needed something to sustain me. I am afraid it 
is cold, but perhaps you won’t mind that. Where 
have you been ? ” 

“We have had such a good time,” said Lois, peer- 
ing into the tea-pot. “We have been taking a 
long walk with Doctor Manning.” 

“ He’s a brick,” said Freddy, possessing himself 
of a slice of bread and butter. “ He’s almost as 
jolly as Reggie.” 

“Doctor Manning!” exclaimed Mrs. Webster, 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 243 

removing her feet from the footstool on which 
they had been resting and sitting up very straight. 
“ Where did you meet him ” 

“ He came here. He got here just as we were 
going out of the door, so he went to walk with us. 
We went to the Champs Ely sees and — ” 

“ But why did you not tell me he was here 1 ” 
interrupted Mrs. Webster. “You knew how anx- 
ious I was to see him.” 

“ But you told me particularly that you didn’t 
wish to be disturbed, Mrs. Webster ! You gave me 
strict orders, you know; and when I told Doctor 
Manning that you were lying down, he wouldn’t let 
me come and tell you.” 

“ I never supposed that he would come in the 
afternoon, for he said that he was apt to be busy all 
day. You might have known, Lois, that I would 
have made every effort to see him. And why were 
you going out You didn’t tell me that you 
thought of doing it.” 

“ I didn’t think of it when I left you, but Freddy 
wanted to go, and there was nothing for him to do 
in the house.” 

Lois felt very much disturbed. The pleasure of 
the walk was rapidly being blotted out. She could 
see that Mrs. Webster was annoyed, and it seemed 


244 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


to her that she was very unreasonable. She said 
nothing, and busied herself with filling the kettle 
with cold water and lighting the lamp under it. It 
would take a long time to boil, but she wished for 
some tea. There was silence for a- few minutes, 
Freddy being too much engaged with his bread and 
butter to speak. 

“ Is he coming soon again .? ” asked Mrs. Webster, 
presently. 

“ Oh, yes, very soon.” 

Again there was silence. 

“ That bread and butter was mighty good,” 
observed Freddy. “ I wish there was some more.” 

“ Why, Freddy, is it all gone } ” cried Lois. 

“ Every crumb.” 

“ I think you might have left one piece for me.” 

“ Why didn’t you pitch in and take some ? I 
thought you didn’t want any, you were so slow.” 

“ But you knew I was waiting for the kettle to 
boil.” 

“ Please don’t quarrel over a bit of bread ! ” 
exclaimed Mrs. Webster, irritably. “Surely, Lois, 
you don’t mind letting that poor child have all he 
needs. There are some crackers in the box on the 
other table. Take those if you are so starving.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


245 


Then she jumped up, in one of the changes of 
mood that were so bewildering, and threw her arms 
around Lois. “ Forgive me, darling, for being so 
cross ! It was a shame that I left no tea for you, 
but I was feeling so lonely, and I was so wretched 
with you both away, and so worried ! You must 
never leave me alone again in Paris. I am glad 
you had the walk, but it was quite too dull for me 
here without you.” 

She was so gentle and affectionate, and her powers 
of fascination for Lois were so great, that the girl, 
whose irritability never lasted long, was immedi- 
ately pacified. She acknowledged that it had been 
hard for Mrs. Webster to spend the afternoon alone, 
and pouring some luke-warm water over the tea- 
leaves that had been used before, she drank the 
dose contentedly, shared the crackers with the still 
ravenous Freddy, and proceeded to recount their 
experiences to Mrs. Webster. Harmony was soon 
completely restored, and Lois was just about to go 
to her room to dress for dinner, when some one 
knocked on the door. It proved to be a maid with 
letters. 

“ I thought the American mail must be in,” said 
Lois. “Three steamers were due, and I was sure 
they were bringing something for us. Here is one 


246 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

for you, Mrs Webster, and there are actually four for 
me. How very exciting ! I know whom they are all 
from, and I mean to keep them to read this evening.” 

“ Only one for me,” said Mrs. Webster, discon- 
tentedly, “ and not one that I wanted at all ! I 
am sure I don’t know whom it is from ; I never 
saw the handwriting before, and it looks like a 
business letter. I dislike business letters extremely. 
They are sure to be unpleasant. No doubt this is 
to tell me that something isn’t going to pay a 
dividend, or some other equally depressing thing.” 

She opened the letter with languid indifference, 
and her eyes travelled down the large typewritten 
page. Then suddenly she sprang to her feet, 
almost upsetting the table with the tea-tray as she 
did so. 

“Lois! Freddy!” she cried joyously. “What 
do you think has happened? My dear children, 
come and support me ! I feel positively faint.” 

“What is it, dear Mrs. Webster?” asked Lois, 
anxiously. “ Is it bad news ? ” 

“Bad! No indeed! It is the best of news. 
My great-uncle Benjamin is dead.” 

Lois dropped the arm with which she was hold- 
ing her and moved back. She looked at Mrs. Web- 
ster with a surprised and troubled gaze. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


247 


“ Your uncle is dead and you are glad? ” she said, 
slowly. 

“ Oh, my dear child, don’t be tragic ! I haven’t 
seen him since I was a little child. He lived away 
out West and wouldn’t have anything to do with 
anybody, and every one supposed that all he had 
would go to charity, but it hasn’t ! It hasn’t ! He 
has left it all to my cousins and me, and now I am 
a rich woman ! Freddy, come and kiss me, you 
little darling ! What shall mother buy you to- 
morrow ? ” 

“ An automobile,” replied Freddy, promptly. 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 


HEN ensued a period of shopping that sur- 



JL passed anything that Lois had yet known. 
There seemed to be no limit to Mrs. Webster’s 
powers of spending. Freddy was given his auto- 
mobile — not one large enough for him to ride in 
himself, as he had at first demanded, but a fascinat- 
ing toy which could be wound up to travel about 
the room, and which afforded him endless amuse- 
ment. They rode in the real ones, hired by the 
hour, and every afternoon when the weather was 
fine they drove in the Bois ; fortunately for Mrs. 
Webster’s newly filled purse, it very often rained 
or snowed. The weather was that of the usual 
European winter, but, cheered by her unexpected 
legacy, Mrs. Webster was for once indifferent to 
the clouds. 

They tasted of every form of amusement that 
was open to them ; they gave little afternoon teas, 
and went to those of their friends, for there were 
many Americans in Paris whom Mrs. Webster 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE 


249 


knew, and they also made acquaintances in the 
English colony. In short, as Lois wrote to her 
mother in Hazelmere and to her friends at Hyeres, 
she was “ having the best time I ever had in my life.” 

Arthur Manning came as. often as he could to 
see them, but he was too much occupied for fre- 
quent calls, and as he usually found others there 
also, he did not see as much of Lois as he would 
have liked. Cecil Beauchamp, whom they had 
known in Wiesbaden, was a constant visitor, for he 
also was spending the latter part of the winter in 
Paris, and having met them one day in the street, 
he had passed much of his time with them since. 
Freddy alone of the three failed to find Paris attrac- 
tive. He was supplied with all sorts of toys and 
games, he had more books than he could read, and 
he was allowed an unlimited amount of pocket 
money, but all these pleasures did not suffice to 
make Freddy happy. His one desire was for com- 
panions of his own age. 

“ What’s the use of a feller having games,” he 
demanded, “ if there ain’t another feller to play ’em 
with ? Anyhow, I hate old house games. I wish I 
was home ! If I was home. I’d be having a jolly old 
time. There’d be snow, and we’d be building forts 
and snow men and everything. We’d be skating. 


250 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

We’d be doing nice things at school. Wish I’d 
never come! Other fellers don’t come. There 
isn’t another American boy in Paris, and it shows 
their sense. When I once get back, you don’t ever 
catch me coming abroad again, you bet I ” 

“ It is strange that there are no boys among all 
the families we know here,” sighed Mrs. Webster. 
“ They either have daughters who are at school, or 
no children with them at all. Why is it 1 ” 

“ I suppose those who have sons stay at home on 
their account,” said Louis, “ or else they leave them 
at boarding-school.” 

“ That is just what I intended doing with Freddy, 
but, you know, he simply would not be left. I had 
made every arrangement, and even paid part of his 
tuition money, which I was obliged to forfeit. So, 
Freddy, it is really your own fault, and you will 
have to bear the consequences. I am sorry those 
nice English boys didn’t stay longer.” 

“Oh, I’m not,” said Freddy; “I got awful tired 
arguing with ’em. They like kings and queens and 
things, and they wouldn’t say the President of the 
United States was the greatest man in the world. 
If they’d stayed another day, we’d have had a fight 
about that, but they had to go. We had it all 
arranged. We were going to have a duel, the way 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 25 1 

they do in France, with seconds and choice of 
weapons and everything, and then they found they 
had to go off sooner then they thought to Italy. It 
was a mean shame we couldn’t do it.” 

“ My dear child ! ” exclaimed his mother, “ where 
did you learn so much about duelling ? ” 

“ Oh, they knew about it and so did I. There 
were three of them, you know, and the one that was 
the same size as me was going to fight me, and the 
biggest one was going to be my second, and the 
littlest one the other feller’s. The big one said he 
didn’t mind being on my side, for he thought I was 
plucky, and he liked to see fair play, and there was 
only one Yankee against three Britishers.” 

“ That was very nice of him,” said Lois, “ but I 
think American and English boys ought to have 
something better to do than fight duels. It isn’t 
done in either England or America.” 

“ Well, we were in Paris, and so we thought we’d 
do as the French do for a change. What shall I do 
now, mother ? ” 

“You can come with us. We are going to the 
dressmaker’s, and then do a little shopping. 

“ Don’t want to ! I hate dressmakers and shop- 
ping. I’d rather stay here” — he stopped abruptly. 
In his thoughts he added, “ I know what I’ll do.” ' 


252 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

It was a plan that had been hovering in his 
thoughts for days, half defined, and of almost too 
daring a nature to be seriously considered. It now 
sprang into shape and possessed him. It was the 
one thing of all others that he would do this morn- 
ing, but it must be carefully concealed. 

His mother supplied him with books, told him 
where he might find some chocolate if he were 
hungry before they returned for dejeuner at twelve, 
and left him. 

“ Dear boy,” she said as they drove away ; “ he is 
so good ! It is certainly very dull for him here. I 
will stay at home with him this afternoon ; I have 
this wretched cold, and I really need a little rest.” 
Then she dismissed him from her mind, which at 
present had little room for anything but her new 
gowns. 

Freddy, left to himself, prepared at once for 
action. He was not naturally a deceitful boy; on 
the contrary, he was honest. He spoke the truth, 
he scorned cheating at games, he always owned up 
bravely Jto any wrongdoing — after it was over; but 
he had acquired the habit of making plans to ac- 
complish s'ome desired end without consulting his 
mother. She was always so anxious about him, so 
nervous lest he should come to some harm, that she 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 253 

was apt to object to his doing things that it is perfectly 
natural for all boys to wish to do. This method 
of bringing up the boy could have but one of two 
results : either he would become an entirely spoiled 
and unattractive lad of the “ Miss Nancy” type, or 
he would go to the other extreme and take pleasure 
in terrifying and outwitting his mother. Freddy 
was in danger of reaching the latter alternative. 
He was a bright boy, his mind active beyond his 
years, and his body full of the restless energy that 
belongs to all healthy boys. He knew perfectly 
well that his mother exaggerated possible dangers, 
and alarmed herself needlessly about small matters, 
and so he grew reckless and to feel that it was 
quite proper for him to attempt any adventure that 
happened to occur to him. 

For days past he had been possessed with the 
desire to visit a hospital. This was quite unlike 
his usual propensities, but he had formed a strong 
attachment to Doctor Manning. Freddy’s affec- 
tions went deeper than one would have supposed, 
and Reginald Manning was his particular idol. 
Arthur was Reggie’s brother, and he liked him at first 
for that reason and very soon for his own sake. He 
had heard the young surgeon speak of his hospital 
work, and he felt instinctively how much it meant 


254 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

to him. He at once determined to be a surgeon 
himself. All of his former ambitions, even that of 
being President, faded away, and he now only 
awaited an opportunity for asking Doctor Manning 
how he should set to work to add “ M.D.” to his 
name. 

His favorite game lately had been to play that he 
was a physician. He had two or three bottles filled 
with water with which he dosed imaginary patients, 
and some small boxes in which little lumps of bread 
masqueraded as pills, but this play soon became 
monotonous. It seemed to him that there must be 
labor of a more exciting nature connected with the 
profession than the giving of pills, if Doctor Man- 
ning found it so absorbing, and upon reasoning the 
matter out in his busy little brain, Freddy decided 
that the interest probably centred in hospitals ; there- 
fore to visit a hospital and see for himself what was 
done there became his chief desire. 

He had at first intended to ask Doctor Manning 
to take him there, but Arthur had not called since 
this idea occurred to the boy; and now came this 
morning of leisure and opportunity. His mother 
and Lois had gone out, and it would probably be 
hours before they returned. He had nothing to do; 
he would go to the hospital and ask for Doctor 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 255 

Manning. Nothing could be more simple and more 
unobjectionable; even his mother would not mind 
this. She did not like to have him go out alone, to 
be sure, except in the immediate neighborhood of 

pension, but probably the hospital was not so very 
far away. He knew that its name was L Hbpital 
Saint Pierre, that it was on the Rue Blanche, He 
opened Baedeker’s “ Paris ” and hunted up the Rue 
Blanche, He understood perfectly how to look 
for the name of a street in the index and then to 
find the locality that it was in on the map. He 
had always enjoyed studying the maps of cities in the 
guide-books, and one of his favorite amusements 
during these months of travel had been to take long 
imaginary walks on paper, lying on the floor with a 
map spread out before him and his heels kicking 
the air. 

He soon found the dark, oblong mark that desig- 
nated LI Hbpital Saint Pierre, He then put one 
of Doctor Manning’s visiting cards in his pocket, 
having first laboriously printed upon it the name of 
the hospital and the street. “ In case I have to ask 
somebody and they’re all too stupid to understand 
me,” he said to himself, as he put on his coat and his 
cap and his best gloves. 

“ Doctor Manning always looks so swell when he 


256 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

comes here that I’ll wear ’em, but gloves are an 
awful bother.” 

He thought of taking Baedeker with him in order 
to find his way more readily. “No, I guess I won’t,” 
he said to himself. “ That old red cover would 
give me away and everybody would know I wasn’t 
French. I’ll tear out the map and stuff it into my 
pocket, and if I lose my way I’ll go into some shop 
and look at it.” So he tore out the map, left the 
little red book lying open on the floor, and departed. 

At first his course was simple enough. He 
walked down one of the broad avenues that lead 
from the Place de V Etoile with the sa7tg froid of 
the born Parisian, and soon found the street by 
which he was to leave this avenue and which led to 
the quartier in which the hospital was situated. 
This street was more crowded than the avenue he 
had left, and ended in a great open square to which 
various other streets also led. This square was 
filled with carriages, omnibuses, electric trams, auto- 
mobiles, people walking and on horseback, — in 
short, it was a scene which only Paris can show, 
bewildering, fascinating, and dangerous, as even the 
boldest must admit. 

Freddy paused on the corner to find an oppor- 
tunity for crossing, and then lingered to watch the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 2S7 

swiftly moving vehicles. He walked a little way, 
and by so doing lost his bearings. He did not 
know which way he ought to go to find the Rue 
Bla^iche, and he wandered about looking at the 
signs on the streets that were near at hand without 
discovering it. He remembered his map, but he 
hesitated to produce it and study it in public; he 
fancied that the passers-by would notice and laugh 
at his ignorance. Finally he concluded to ask 
some one. A man stood near whom he took to be 
the equivalent of an American policeman, for he 
wore an air of authority and a uniform, so Freddy 
walked up to him. 

“ Ou est la Rue Blanche f ” he asked in halting 
French. 

The man glanced down at the small figure and 
then waved his hand vaguely across the Place. 
“ Cest la'' he replied, and turned his attention to 
something else. 

Freddy was not at all sure of the direction, and 
he thought that as long as he was asking one ques- 
tion he might just as well add another. 

“ L'Hbpital Saint Pierre ? " he inquired ; “ ou est 
VHbpital Saint Pierre ? " 

There must have been something quite wrong 
with his French, he thought, for the man did not 


258 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

pay the slightest attention to him, so he searched 
his pockets and finally produced Doctor Manning’s 
card. 

“ Monsieur','" said he, “ I want — je desire — to find 
— trouver V Hbpital Samt Pierre, Rue Blanche!' 

“ C'est la, je t'ai dit cent fois ! " cried the man, 
irascibly, and continued to pour forth a torrent of 
French, waving his hand as he had done before. 

The way seemed to lead across the very thickest 
part of the maelstrom of vehicles that whirled through 
the Place ; there was nothing to do but to set forth 
by that route if Freddy wished to reach the hos- 
pital. He thought of his mother, and wondered 
what she would say if she could see him now. He 
concluded that the safest plan would be to run ; he 
was very quick, and he could dodge the carriages. 
Tightly clutching the card in one hand while he 
settled his cap more firmly on his head with the 
other, he started on his perilous path. 

There was a “ safety island ” in the centre of this 
turbulent sea of vehicles where pedestrians could 
pause for breath and where the omnibuses stopped 
for passengers. Freddy arrived there without mis- 
hap, but, elated with having accomplished half the 
trip, he did not linger long. Again he set forth, 
this time more recklessly than before, for success 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


259 


had turned his head. Forgetting that there were a 
dozen ways in which he ought to look, he dashed 
blindly on. The warning “ whoop ” of the driver 
of a fiacre failed to reach his ears, and in another 
moment he was knocked down. To all who chanced 
to see the incident it seemed as if the end must have 
come. 

They picked him up and carried him to the pave- 
ment. One leg hung limp and helpless, and there 
was a cut on his forehead from which the blood was 
flowing, but he had not altogether lost consciousness. 
His hand still held the card with Arthur Manning’s 
name upon it, and when he opened his eyes and 
looked up into the kind faces that were bending 
over him, while friendly hands bound up his fore- 
head, he said in English, “ I’m Freddy Webster.” 

They were all French people who surrounded 
him, and it happened that not one of them spoke 
English. Then some one saw the card in his hand 
and, taking it, read the address, “ L Hbpital Saint 
Pierre^ la Rue Blanched 

“ Yes,” said Freddy, feebly, “<9^ est la Rue Blanche? 
Take me there.” And then he fainted. 

“It is in the very next street ! ” they exclaimed ; 
“ of course, the hospital ! What could be better ? 
Perhaps the little one has friends there, and was 


26 o 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


on his way to call upon them. To the hospital 
immediately ! ” 

And as it was but a few steps and he so small and 
light of weight, one of the men carried him tenderly 
in his arms; and so Freddy entered for the first 
time the hospital that he had so longed to see. 

It was late in the morning when Mrs. Webster 
and Lois Putnam got into the waiting cab and gave 
the order “ home.” They had accomplished so 
much that Mrs. Webster, in spite of being very 
tired, was in excellent spirits. 

“We will take a good rest after dejeuner'' S2iid 
she, “ and then be ready for our friends when they 
drop in at five o’clock. The Allens are coming, and 
I think Cecil Beauchamp will if he does not go out 
of town ; and it is about time for Arthur Manning to 
come again. We haven’t seen him for some time. 
I told Freddy I would spend the afternoon with 
him, but I am so tired that perhaps you will take 
him off my hands for a little while, Lois dear. You 
and he might take a drive in one of those cheap 
fiacres. However, I don’t suppose I ought to let 
you go alone. You can play a game with him, 
Lois, up in your room until I have had my nap. 
Dear boy ! I wonder how he has been amusing 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 26 1 

himself this morning. He deserves a nice afternoon 
for having been so good about staying alone. You 
might go to some of the gardens; the one where 
they have the animals. Perhaps Cecil Beauchamp 
would come and go with you and then come back 
for tea. We will telegraph him.” 

“ But I am tired, too,” said Lois. 

She was leaning back in her corner of the cab. 
The morning had been fatiguing, and she was 
growing just a little weary of planning costumes 
and watching the manipulations of the dressmakers. 
She had been thinking of Hope and Diana, and 
wondering what they were doing ; if the sun were 
shining at Hyeres ; and flitting hazily through her 
mind, well in the background and without definite 
shape until Mrs. Webster herself put it into words, 
had been the thought that Arthur Manning had not 
been to see them for a long time. 

At first he had been very friendly, and had come 
whenever he could find time, but of late he seemed 
to have lost interest in them. To be sure there had 
been many others present whenever he had called, 
and the conversation had been general, which no 
doubt he had found unsatisfactory; that, perhaps, 
accounted for his absence. Lois wished that she 
could find some means of letting him know that 


262 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


they expected to be at home, and probably alone, 
that evening. She wished that Mrs. Webster had 
suggested telegraphing to him instead of to Cecil 
Beauchamp to go to walk with them, but no doubt 
he would be too busy to come. The one walk 
which she and Freddy had taken with him 
alone, soon after their arrival in Paris, stood out in 
her memory as one of the pleasantest things that 
she had done since their arrival. It was because he 
was an American, she supposed, and because he 
belonged to Mrs. Manning and Reginald, that she 
liked him so much. 

“ I am very tired,” she said again. 

“ Perhaps you are tired, Lois,” said Mrs. Webster, 
“ but, my dear, you can’t possibly be as tired as I 
am. You are so strong, you know; you have no 
cold, as I have. The only wonder is that I can go 
about as much as I do. The Paris climate at this 
season is certainly atrocious.” The cab stopped in 
front of the pensio7t, “ Y ou pay him, Lois ; you 
manage it better than I do.” 

She put her purse into the girl’s hand. Then 
she glanced up at the house. “ I wonder where the 
dear boy is,” said she ; “ I don’t see him at the 
windows.” 

They entered the lift, Mrs. Webster going as far 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 263 

as the second eya£-e, while Lois continued on to her 
room at the top of the house. 

“ I am tired,” she said to herself ; “ I really believe 
I have had about enough of this sort of life. I 
really believe I am sorry that I ever left the girls. 
They seem to be having such a good time, going 
on excursions, and sitting out of doors, and seeing 
strange, foreign sights. Paris might be New York, 
or Brussels, or any other big city, so far as we are 
concerned. I like the shops, but I didn’t suppose 
that Mrs. Webster would be so entirely devoted to 
them, and not go to any of the interesting buildings 
and other places. She says we can keep that for 
the spring when the girls are here ; but they don’t 
expect to spend much time in Paris, on account of 
the money.” 

She sat down and, leaning back in her chair, 
sighed wearily. “ Heigh-ho ! I don’t feel a bit like 
amusing Freddy this afternoon, or going out with 
Cecil Beauchamp. He is very nice, but I feel more 
like talking to — one of my own countrymen. I 
believe I will strike about taking care of Freddy, as 
Hope would say. Dear old Hope! I wish I could 
see her dear, changeable face, and listen to her 
chattering ! She always has something to say and, 
except when she is worrying over the accounts, she 


264 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

is always so cheerful. And Diana — oh, if I could 
only see my dear, dearest Di ! Why, I really believe 
I am homesick for the girls.” 

She turned her head and gazed dejectedly out of 
the window at the roofs and chimney-pots, and just 
at that moment there was a hasty knock at the 
door. Without waiting for a reply it was burst 
open, and Mrs. Webster came in. 

“He is here, of course.” 

“ No, he isn’t.” 

“ Not here Why, Lois, where is he, then } ” 

“ I am sure I don’t know. I have just come in, 
you know. Probably he is in the salon, or at the 
table. We are late, and he always gets there first ; 
he has such an appetite.” 

“ It is quite natural that he should have an appe- 
tite — a growing boy! I am really surprised at 
you, Lois.” The door closed again, and Lois was 
alone. 

“ I am surprised at myself,” she thought, “ but I 
am tired of these continual frights about Freddy. 
If Mrs. Webster would stay with him more she 
would not be frightened so often. How many times 
since we sailed from New York have we lost Freddy 
and found him again ? He has nine lives, and I 
am not going to be worried, even if he doesn’t turn 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 26 $ 

up for an hour. I am too tired.” And this ex- 
treme irritability in the usually placid Lois proved 
that she was very tired indeed. 

She made ready for luncheon, and was about 
to go down to join Mrs. Webster, when again 
the door was opened hastily; this time without 
the preliminary knock. Mrs. Webster’s face was 
white, and wore what Hope called its “ lost boy 
expression.” 

“ Lois, he is nowhere in the house ! ” 

“ Oh, he must be, Mrs. Webster! He is hiding; 
I dare say he is under my bed.” She stooped and 
looked under it. 

“ I tell you he is not in the house I ” cried the 
mother. “ The concierge saw him go out, and he 
has never come back I And, Lois, he has left 
the Paris Baedeker lying on the floor with one of 
the maps torn out. Oh, Lois, Lois, he has gone 
out alone in Paris, and something has happened to 
him ! I am absolutely sure that something has 
happened.” 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 


I T was soon established beyond a doubt that Freddy 
had gone alone to walk and had not returned. 
When this had occurred in Wiesbaden Mrs. Webster 
was almost beside herself with fright, and Wies- 
baden was a small city, German, orderly, and free 
from crowds. To know that he was wandering in 
Paris, with but little knowledge of the language, 
perhaps having lost his way on one of the thronged 
boulevards, perhaps in the Latin Quarter, or even 
a worse locality, rendered his mother absolutely 
powerless to move or to decide what would be the 
best course to pursue. She was not a woman who 
could rise to an emergency. 

Lois therefore took command. She also realized 
the gravity of the situation, for she knew only too 
well the recklessness of Freddy when crossing the 
streets, and his superb confidence in himself, which 
had so often before led him into danger. She also 
feared that he had met with some accident, but she 
hid this from his mother, who was already perfectly 
convinced that it was the case. 


266 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 267 

“ He may have gone farther than he intended and 
it is taking him a good while to come back,” said 
Lois ; “ you know we all make mistakes. I hope 
to see him come in at any minute, dear Mrs. Web- 
ster. In the meantime you must have something to 
eat. We will have it brought up to your room.” 

“ Lois, you are perfectly heartless ! How can 
you think of eating when Freddy is lost.f^ ” 

But Lois quietly persisted in her ministrations, 
and Mrs. Webster was finally prevailed upon to take 
some food. 

“You said you were going to telegraph to Cecil 
Beauchamp to come this afternoon,” said she, pres- 
ently. “ Suppose we do so. Of course Freddy 
will be here by the time he gets here, and then we 
can go out if he likes. At any rate, it would be 
nice to have Mr. Beauchamp come — I must have 
some one to ask advice of,” she added to herself; 
“ some one besides these people in the house, and 
one who knows what he is. I wish I could see 
Doctor Manning.” 

Mrs. Webster was crying on the sofa. “ Send for 
him, then,” she sobbed; “but I don’t see how you 
can think of taking a walk when my boy is perhaps — 
perhaps — oh, Lois, I am so afraid he has been run 
over, and how should we ever find him if he has ? ” 


268 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


It was what Lois herself feared. She sat down 
and wrote the telegram to Cecil Beauchamp. “ I 
believe I will send for Ar — for Doctor Manning, 
too,” she thought. “ I won’t tell Mrs. Webster. 
He knows Paris so well, and he is so — well, 
he is a doctor, and so he knows how to help 
people.” 

Then she wrote: “We need your advice. Please 
come as soon as possible. Lois Putnam.” She 
left the room and gave the two telegrams to a 
messenger to take at once to the nearest telegraph 
bureau. As soon as he had gone she wished that 
she could recall the one she had sent to Arthur. 

“ What will he think of me } ” she said to herself. 
“ Even Mrs. Webster didn’t ask to have him come, 
and why should I } Very likely Freddy will get 
back before either of them come, and then how 
absurd it will seem. I wish I hadn’t done it ! ” 

But the hours crept by and Freddy did not come, 
neither did Cecil Beauchamp nor Arthur Manning. 
Mrs. Webster walked the floor wringing her hands, 
or cast herself upon the sofa, sobbing miserably. 
Lois was frightened about her condition, as well as 
about Freddy. She longed for Diana, whose calm, 
quiet ways could always soothe their chaperon — 
they had been through so many of these experiences. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 269 

She longed for Hope, who always knew just what to 
do in an emergency and who was so quick in her 
decisions. Lois felt as if they were losing time, and 
then again she could not help suspecting that the 
excitement might all be for nothing, as it had been 
so many times before where Freddy was concerned. 
It was quite possible that he was safe and well. 

There was no one in the house whom she cared 
to consult. Mrs. Atkinson, with whom they boarded, 
had gone out of town for the day, and most of the 
other people were out. If Arthur Manning would 
only come ! She walked in desperation to the win- 
dow, as she had done fifty times already. Presently 
she heard the clatter of a horse’s hoofs coming 
swiftly over the asphalt. She had been deceived by 
this sound again and again, and had hastened to the 
window only to see the carriage roll by. This time 
it stopped. The door of the cab opened and — was 
it — could it be.^^ Yes, it was! She turned to 
Mrs. Webster. 

“ Here is Doctor Manning,” she said quietly. 
“ Now we are all right.” 

“All right!” cried Mrs. Webster. “All right 
when Freddy is gone.f^” 

“ But he will find him. I am quite sure that 
Doctor Manning will find him.” 


2/0 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ Go down to him and bring him right up ; don’t 
linger an instant, will you ? Let him come to me 
at once.” 

Lois left the room and went to the door of the ele- 

• • • . 

vator; when it came up, Doctor Manning was in it. 

“ I asked to be brought up to Mrs. Webster’s 
room,” said he. 

“ You got my telegram ? ” asked Lois. “ I am 
so glad you could come.” 

“ No, I have had no telegram. I came to tell you 
about Freddy.” 

“ Do you know where he is ? ” 

“Yes; he was brought into the hospital. Don’t 
look so white! He isn’t going to die. I was not 
there, but they sent for me. He is hurt, but he will 
come out of it all right. It seems that he had my 
card in his hand when he was run over, and they 
brought him there. It was odd, wasn’t it ? There I 
Do you feel a little better ? ” 

He had taken her hand when he met her, and 
unconsciously he had held it. She was quite worn 
out with her anxiety, added to the fatigue of the 
morning, and his strong, warm grasp seemed to put 
new strength into her. 

“ How shall we ever tell his mother ? ” she asked, 
looking up into the young man’s face. It was full 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 2^1 

of sympathy and kindness ; he knew without a word 
from her of all that she had been through. 

“ I will tell her,” said he ; “ don’t worry any more. 
It is so much better than it might have been. Just 
think what good luck it was to have him brought to 
L ' Hbpital Saint Pierre, of all others.” 

Then they went to Mrs. Webster’s room. 

“We have found your boy,” said Arthur, cheer- 
fully. 

Mrs. Webster sprang from the sofa. “ Where is 
he.f^” she cried. “Freddy dear, are you hiding.? 
Come quickly to mother.” 

“ He is not here, Mrs. Webster, but he is in good 
hands.” And then quietly and gently he told her 
about it. 

Lois never forgot in after years the days that fol- 
lowed. At first Mrs. Webster, nerving herself for 
the effort, insisted upon spending much of her time 
with Freddy, and she went daily with Lois to the 
hospital. His leg was broken, and he was a good 
deal bruised; his escape from instant death had 
been little short of a miracle. After the effect of 
the nervous shock passed off he improved rapidly, 
but it was thought better to keep him at the hos- 
pital, rather than to remove him to pension. He 
was comfortable there, the nurses and surgeons were 


272 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

very kind to him, and he seemed to derive a certain 
satisfaction from the fact that he was in a hospital. 

“You see, I wanted to know all about one,” said 
he to Doctor Manning, “and I couldn’t have man- 
aged it better, could I? I wish I were in one of 
the big wards, though, instead of in this little room 
by myself, so that I could see something.” 

The doctor looked at the little fellow lying on 
the high, narrow bed, with his head bound up and 
his leg in splints. 

“ If you had asked me, we might have arranged 
to have you see the hospital in another way,” said 
he ; “ but I am glad you are satisfied.” 

It was only when his mother came that Freddy 
grew restless and impatient. He asked her for the 
most impossible things, all of which she promised 
to grant. She fussed over him and petted him, and 
when the nurse asserted her authority, and would 
not allow him to eat the candy Mrs. Webster had 
brought to him, she wept with indignation and dis- 
appointment. Naturally, this had a bad effect upon 
Freddy. The doctor forbade further visits, ordering 
the patient to have complete rest, and his mother 
was obliged to stay at home. Then she broke down 
herself; the cold that had been lingering so long 
became worse, and she was unable to leave her 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


273 


room. Lois was in constant attendance upon her, 
and Doctor Manning came every day, and often 
twice a day, not only to cheer up the invalid with 
his reports of Freddy, but to help Lois. The girl 
was showing the effect of the demands made upon 
her. 

Cecil Beauchamp, who had been out of town the 
day of Freddy’s accident, and therefore did not re- 
ceive the telegram until too late to be of use, also 
came very often, and other friends did all they 
could to help them; but Mrs. Webster, unable to go 
out herself, was unwilling that Lois should leave 
her. Lois, therefore, was obliged to decline all in- 
vitations, and if she went to the salon for ten or fif- 
teen minutes to receive the friends who called, she 
returned always to find Mrs. Webster in tears, com- 
plaining bitterly of her loneliness and her misfor- 
tunes. Cecil Beauchamp discovered this one day, 
and his indignation was so great that he expressed 
himself very forcibly to Lois, and then, chancing to 
meet Arthur Manning as he left the house, he again 
freed his mind. 

“ If you are their medical, man, you ought to do 
something,” said he, “ unless you are trying to get 
another patient on your hands. My word ! the 
woman’s a monster of selfishness. Fancy keeping 


274 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


a young girl shut up like that! It’s an outrage, 
isn’t it ? ” 

To which Manning agreed, for he had been think- 
ing the same thing himself. 

One afternoon, soon after this conversation with 
Beauchamp, the doctor came in earlier than usual, 
and after a little professional talk with Mrs. Webster, 
he turned to Lois. “ Have you been out to-day. 
Miss Putnam } ” 

“No; I haven’t been out since the day before 
yesterday.” 

“ I thought so. You look as if you hadn’t had 
enough fresh air. Why don’t you put on your hat 
and come with me now } I have some leisure this 
afternoon. You will spare her for a couple of hours, 
won’t you, Mrs. Webster.^” 

“ Oh, I shall be so frightfully lonely,” said Mrs. 
Webster. 

“Oh, no, you won’t, I am sure. Please, Miss 
Putnam, go and get ready.” 

Although he was so young in years as well as in 
his profession, he had the professional air of expect- 
ing obedience. Lois folded up the embroidery with 
which she had been trying to occupy herself, and 
glanced as she did so at Mrs. Webster. 

“ Shall I go ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 2/5 

Mrs. Webster sighed, fidgeted, and turned away 
her head. “ I suppose you must. But won’t you 
see if some one in the house can come and sit with 
me } And don’t stay too long, will you ? ” 

When Lois returned ready for the walk, the mood 
had changed. “You needn’t ask any one to come,” 
said Mrs. Webster, with unusual cheerfulness; 
“ Doctor Manning thinks I shall get a nap if I am 
left alone. He is coming in to see me again when 
you get back.” 

“ What did you do to her.? ” asked Lois, when they 
left the house. “ I wish I had your faculty for 
cheering her up and making her see things in the 
right way. I have lost all my influence. I don’t 
think she cares in the least about me now.” 

“ Oh, you think that because you are tired, and I 
don’t wonder that you are. It is quite time that you 
were relieved of some of the care. Miss Putnam. I 
want to talk to you about that, and also about other 
things, and that is one of the reasons why I asked 
you to come out. I knew I couldn’t see you alone 
in the house. I want to ask some advice as well as 
to give some.” 

Lois felt sudden little thrills of pleasure. It 
delighted her to know that he sought her counsel, 
this strong young man who had such clear views 


276 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

and decided opinions, and upon whom it was so 
natural for others to lean. Was it possible that she 
could help him ? She looked up at him shyly. He 
was so tall and broad, and the face, with its won- 
derful expression of purity and nobility of purpose, 
was so far above her. He glanced down at her, a 
friendly light shining in his blue eyes as he noticed 
the wistful look in hers. 

“How pretty she is,” he thought; “and how 
tired she looks. There is more in her face than 
there used to be; perhaps she has more character 
than I have given her credit for. She has certainly 
been having a hard time, poor little girl, and I am 
sorry for her.” And so he looked at her with sym- 
pathy and friendliness, and Lois was happy, fancy- 
ing it to be something else. 

“ Shall we go out to the Bois ? ” he asked, “ and 
try to imagine that we are not in this big city with 
all its turmoil ? I believe I shall not be sorry to 
leave Paris. New York is not far behind it, but at 
least that is my native place.” 

“ You are not going ? ” exclaimed Lois, quickly. 

“ My term is nearly up ; in less than a month I 
shall be free. I hoped it would be extended, but 
some French fellow with lots of influence has been 
appointed instead. It is quite natural that he 


-•'r 





LOIS WAS HAPPY 



THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


277 


should get it. I have gained a good deal here, but 
now I must think about going home. I am going 
to write to my mother to-night. I should like to 
stay over here and travel a little before settling 
down to build up a practice, but don’t you think it 
would be losing time } I have got to make a living, 
you know.” 

“ It is hard to say,” said Lois. “ I know so little 
about such things. Do you just go back and take 
an office and wait for patients to come to you } ” 

He laughed. “ Sometimes it is like that, but I 
am hoping to get an appointment in one of the big 
hospitals in New York, and if I do, then I stand a 
chance of being chosen as assistant to one of the big 
surgeons afterward, and that helps things along 
very much. Of course, my experience here will be 
of immense use to me. I should not get an appoint- 
ment before next fall, probably, but in the meantime 
do you think I ought to go home and pick up what 
I can ? ” ^ 

Lois found it very difficult to give an opinion. 
She knew very well what she wished he would do. 
The thought of his leaving her filled her with an 
almost unbearable despair. She was frightened at 
the intensity of her feeling, for she was not accus- 
tomed to deep emotions. 


2/8 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ But I want to talk to you about your own 
affairs,” continued Arthur, presently. “ Freddy will 
soon be well enough to leave the hospital, and it 
seems to me a poor plan for him to go back to that 
pension. His mother is too miserable, and as for 
you, it is quite preposterous that you should have so 
much care. Why would it not be a good idea for 
you all to go south, and join the others at Hyeres } ” 

“Mrs. Webster would never consent; she is too 
devoted to Paris.” Lois spoke calmly, but she was 
disturbed. She longed for her friends, and she was 
very weary of her close confinement, but she did not 
wish to leave Paris. Not now, at any rate ; perhaps 
in a month. She dared not ask herself why she 
thought of the limit of a month. 

“I am going to talk to Mrs. Webster when we go 
back,” said Arthur ; “ I wanted to consult you first ; 
and really I think you would better do that. You 
can get there very comfortably from here, stopping 
one night on the way. My mother writes that it is 
very charming there, and they are all going to stay 
until May. It gets too hot to be safe for northern 
people after that. It is now the middle of March, 
so you would have six weeks. You need it. Miss 
Putnam, indeed you do, apart from the benefit it 
would be to Mrs. Webster and Freddy.” 


THREE* GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


279 


Lois smiled, but said nothing. She did not wish 
to go, but it pleased her that he should be thinking 
of her welfare. Before the day was over, however, 
she had suddenly changed her mind, and found that 
she did wish to go very much indeed ; in fact, if a 
certain decision could be reached, it became the one 
thing of all others that she most desired, so strangely 
are human beings constituted, and by such appar- 
ently small events is one’s happiness affected. It 
was merely a whim of Mrs. Webster’s, but the grati- 
fication of it made all the difference in the world 
to Lois. 

Arthur’s suggestion that they should leave Paris 
for Hyeres was received by Mrs. Webster with 
mingled feelings. 

“ I should like to get away from this atrocious 
climate,” said she, “ and Hyeres seems to be attrac- 
tive, but it is too long a journey. Fancy us spending 
a night on the way, to say nothing of the all-day 
travelling, with me so weak and wretched, and 
Freddy just recovering from such an accident. 
Lois could never manage it all. If she were Hope, 
it would be different. Hope is so strong and 
dependable.” 

Lois’s eyes filled with tears. 

“ Miss Putnam has proved herself an excellent 


28 o 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


nurse, Mrs. Webster,” said Arthur, quickly. “ I have 
no doubt Miss Conway is a good traveller and cou- 
rier, but she would certainly have to work hard to 
be a better friend and nurse than Miss Putnam has 
been to you.” 

Lois looked gratefully at her champion. It was de- 
lightful to feel that there was some one to stand up 
for her. She did not mind Mrs. Webster’s irritability 
if it brought forth such words of commendation. 

“ Of course she is ! ” said Mrs. Webster, taking the 
girl’s hand with one of her pretty, appealing gestures, 
“ She is a dear child, but I am such a goose, you 
know. When I am travelling I feel as if I wanted 
somebody big and strong to look after things, and 
Hope is quite a giantess. Now if you were going 
with us, I shouldn’t hesitate a minute. Why can’t 
you.?” 

“ Oh, I have my work to look after, and I can’t 
afford to travel so much. I have pretty much de- 
cided that, when I leave the hospital in a few weeks, 
I must go home at once. But you could engage a 
maid to go with you ; there are courier maids, you 
know.” 

“ I don’t want a courier maid. If I had a courier 
at all, I would rather have a man. I like a man to 
depend upon. I want you to go.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


.281 

“ It is impossible, Mrs. Webster; I can’t afford it.” 

“ But you could if I were to pay for you,” said 
Mrs. Webster, rising in the excitement of the new 
idea that had come to her, and sitting upright on 
the sofa. “ I have plenty of money now, and I must 
have you with us. Freddy is ill and I am ill; we 
both need a doctor. Only last month some New 
York people passed through Paris with a young 
doctor in the party ; some one was an invalid and 
they brought him. I thought then how delightful 
it must be to have a doctor with you always over 
here, if you were not particularly well. I dislike 
these foreign doctors, with their broken English, 
and the English doctors don’t understand American 
nerves. Yes, you must certainly go with us. I will 
pay your expenses and a salary besides.” 

Arthur hesitated. “ I must think it over, and so 
must you,” said he. “We can’t decide at once, for 
there is a good deal involved. I must think of the 
future and of my delay in going back to New York. 
It might mean the^^ of an appointment. At any 
rate, I must conpjM my^other. I will write to her 
at once ancTask^er to t^graph. I must take three 
days before I Webster. Day after to- 

morrow I will ^ Jfeyouj^lefinite answer, if you are 
willing to wait i^rSfH^a^n'd if by then you will still 


282 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


feel like having me go with you. Otherwise I must 
say no at once.” 

“ Oh, I hate to wait,” she said, as she sank back 
on the sofa; “suspense is so disagreeable. And I 
simply cannot take no for an answer. You must 
go with us or I shall not leave Paris.” 

The days that ensued were more trying than any 
that had gone before, for Lois herself was so deeply 
interested in the decision that Arthur might reach 
that she found it almost impossible to be patient 
with Mrs. Webster’s increased nervousness and ill- 
humor. But the hours dragged themselves away, 
and on the third day came Arthur’s reply. He 
would go with them, and would remain with Mrs. 
Webster until the party returned to the north; he 
would then go back to New York. 

So the matter was settled to the satisfaction of 
all concerned, and preparations were made for an 
immediate departure. Arthur found that, owing to 
affairs at the hospital, it would be desirable for 
him to leave somewhat sooner than he had at first 
thought possible, and in a weel^ from the day the 
plan was arranged they left Paris.' . 

Freddy, with his once round andirosy face grown 
quite pale and thin from long confinement, was 
brought to the station directly from the hospital 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 283 

by Doctor Manning. The boy was radiant at the 
turn of affairs, for his devotion to Arthur had in- 
creased tenfold since his accident. The elder 
brother now occupied even a higher place in his 
affections than Reginald, and Freddy’s determina- 
tion to be a doctor was more firmly fixed than ever. 

“ I’ll be your assistant,” said he, as they drove 
from the hospital to the Gave de Lyon, “ Then I 
can go with you everywhere. I like hospitals and 
doctors and nurses. They’re awful good to a 
feller, but you’re the best of all. You see, you’re 
the kind of a feller that makes another feller do 
and think nice things. You don’t say anything 
much, but there’s a kind of a look that comes into 
your face, you know\ When you’re glad, it makes 
a feller feel like running and jumping and whis- 
tling very loud, and when you’re sorry about any- 
thing I’ve said, I feel like my dog Banners at home 
when he’s been scolded or whipped. And the 
funny part of it is that you don’t say anything. 
It’s just your face.” 

Arthur looked down at the radiant little face 
beside him and laughed. “Yours makes me feel 
like jumping and whistling this morning, Freddy; 
you look so jolly. Are you so glad you are leaving 
Paris \ ” 


284 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Mighty glad, as long as you’re going too. You 
see, Paris is only meant for grown-ups ; a feller like 
me can’t have any fun here. I guess Hyeres is 
going to be better. There’ll be Reggie, and then 
Hope and Diana are heaps more fun than Lois. 
Hope’s awfully funny, and when she isn’t talking 
with her tongue her face talks. Di is quieter, but 
she’s terribly good-natured. And then there are 
lots of things a feller can do at Hyeres. Is this 
the station } What a big place ! There are mother 
and Lois and Cecil Beauchamp ! Is he going too 1 
Hello, Cecil ! What makes you look so glum ? ” 

In the excitement of the arrival and the meeting 
this question remained unanswered. • Doctor Man- 
ning attended to the luggage and looked after the 
comfort of the invalids, and thus Lois and Cecil 
were left together. They paced up and down the 
broad platform ; Lois’s face, into which the color 
had come back, was dimpling with smiles, and 
formed a great contrast to that of young Beauchamp, 
who, as Freddy had observed, looked “glum.” 

“ I believe you are glad to go,” said he. 

“ Of course I am ! ” exclaimed Lois. “ Don’t you 
know that I am going back to my dear home 
friends ? It is next best to going really home.” 

“You would like to go home, wouldn’t you ? ” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 28 $ 

“ I shall be glad when the time comes if — if we 
all go.” 

“ Nothing would make you want to stay over 
here, would it } ” 

“Why, no ; of course not ! ” 

“ But, then, you haven’t seen England. Perhaps 
when you come there you will feel more like staying.” 

“ But why should I } If you were to come to 
America you would enjoy seeing it, but you wouldn’t 
wish to give up your own country and stay there.” 

“ I might if — if somebody wanted me to stay.” 

“ I think it must be time for us to get into the 
train,” said Lois, turning suddenly. 

“ But, Miss Putnam, you will let me know as 
soon as you reach England, won’t you } ” 

“ Oh, yes.” 

“ And perhaps I shall still be in Paris when you 
come back. You won’t forget to let me know, 
will you } ” 

“ No, indeed ; you have been so kind, Mr. 
Beauchamp. It has been very nice to see you 
here, and I hope we shall meet you again before we 
go home. Thank you ever so much.” 

“ Don’t thank me,” said Cecil, miserably. “ Do 
you suppose I want to be thanked } I would rather 
you said anything else.” 


286 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


And then the good-bys were said, the guards 
cried “ Bn voiture ! ” the carriage doors were closed, 
and slowly the long train moved out of the station. 
In the mind of Lois, Paris and Cecil Beauchamp 
already belonged to the past. 

The young Englishman stepped into a cab, and 
was driven through the crowded streets to his hotel. 

“ What a hideously empty place Paris is,” he 
said to himself. “ Nobody here I care in the least 
about. One might as well be in South Africa. 
I wonder if I could induce my mother to try the 
Riviera for a bit before going to London. The 
climate would be much better for her than it is 
in this beastly place. Heigho! She looked so 
awfully happy, didn’t she ? ” 

This time he was not alluding to his mother. 


CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 


D iana STUART was in the Jar din d'Ac- 
climatation ” of Hyeres. She sat alone in a 
secluded part of the garden. Beautiful trees cast 
a shadow over the bench on which she was sitting 
and upon the grass near ; beyond the shade vast beds 
of flowers lay in the sun, which was growing hotter 
each day, and the smooth bright surface of a lake 
shone in the distance. Curious trees and shrub- 
bery could be found in all parts of this garden, 
and exquisite plants of every description, which 
were raised there for the purpose of sending them 
later to adorn the gardens of Paris. 

Diana did not look beyond the shade. It was 
too dazzling out there ; too beautiful in its sunshine 
and its glorious coloring for her weak eyes to 
endure. She sat with them cast down, her hands 
folded idly in her lap. She had neither book 
nor work ; her thoughts were her sole companions, 
and they were sad. 


287 


288 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ I doubt if I am ever any better,” she was 
thinking. “ How many weeks have gone by and 
yet there is no improvement 1 My art, my precious 
art ! I was going to do such wonderful things ! 
It seems so strange that the talent has been given 
to me only to be taken away. I want so much to 
make the most of it, and yet now it has been made 
impossible for me to improve it in the least. I did 
so want to be able to support myself and help 
father, and I hate so to be idle. It is misery to me 
to have nothing to do. And oh, the color ! The 
beautiful color, right out there, but so far beyond 
me ! I can’t look at the light. I have got to sit in 
the shade for the rest of my days, I suppose.” 

Diana was young, and experience had not yet 
taught her that we must all sit in the shade for a 
time, knowing that light and color lie beyond ; that 
they are not meant for our eyes just at present; but 
we can be glad that they are there and that by and by 
we shall emerge from the shadow and find the world 
all the more beautiful because we have known what 
it is to sit in darkness. She had been very plucky, 
and no one, not even Hope, who could often see 
beneath the surface which others could not pene- 
trate, not even Hope suspected half the mental 
suffering that Diana had experienced. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 289 

When she first came to Hyeres the novelty of 
the scenes had amused her, and she had not had 
time to think, but now her thoughts preyed upon 
her. Her eyes looked sad and weary, and her face 
had grown thinner. She sat with her arm upon the 
back of the bench and her head on her hand, and 
she was so absorbed in her own suffering that she 
paid no heed to anything else. She was quite 
unconscious that a young man walked along the 
path near who looked at her with interest, and that 
presently he returned, walking more slowly and 
watching her closely as he passed. There had 
been a number of people in the garden since 
Diana came, and as the path did not lead directly 
in front of her bench she had paid no attention 
to them. 

Ten minutes later a young girl came over the 
same path. She was walking briskly, and she held 
her head high, with the little suggestion of inde- 
pendence that was peculiar to her, while on her 
face was an expression of fun and laughter which 
presented a sharp contrast to Diana’s sad coun- 
tenance. It was Hope. 

“ Well, here you are at last ! ” said she, blithely, as 
she seated herself. “ I have been looking for you 
in all the gardens, and finally thought of this. I 

u 


290 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


never dreamed that you would come prowling off 
here by yourself, but it was fate, Diana. Fate led 
you here. If you had been in any other garden I 
never should have met him ! ” 

“ Met who ? ” 

“ Whom would be better English, my child ! Be 
very careful on this side of the Atlantic, or they will 
say we don’t know how to speak it. There may 
be an English man or woman — more likely a 
woman, for they are more critical of us — lurking 
behind these bushes, all ready to pounce on you 
for forgetting that the pronoun ‘ who ’ takes — ” 

“Oh, hush, Hope! Tell me what has hap- 
pened. You have had an adventure. I can tell 
from the look of you.” 

“ Which is more than you have had, to judge 
from the look of you. But it was lucky you came 
here, and very lucky I thought of coming after 
you here, and still luckier I met him, or I should 
never have been able to find you. He told me 
where you were.” 

“Who.?” 

“ Ah, this time ‘ who ’ is correct. Why, the 
American, of course. The ‘ Man on the Bridge.’ 
After all these weeks of absence he has come again, 
and, as I say, he told me where to find you.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


291 


Diana sat up very straight and looked at Hope 
with horrified and reproachful eyes. “You don’t 
mean to say you have talked with him ? Hope ! ” 
“ Of course I did. Now don’t be a goose, Di ! 
Haven’t we been waiting for weeks and weeks to 
thank him for what he did for us at Tarascon? 
Do you suppose I would let such a chance as this 
slip by? Not by any means. It was funny. I had 
just been wondering where he was, and if we should 
ever see him again, when — ” 

“Not at all funny,” said Diana, interrupting her; 
“ you are thinking of it all the time. Wherever we 
go you are peering around corners and looking for 
that man. In every new place that is suggested 
for us to explore you hope to find him, ready to tie 
your shoe, or pick up your umbrella, or do some 
other trifling service, that you would magnify a 
thousand times, and think you must thank him for- 
ever after. I know you ! ” 

“ Diana, since we have reached France you have 
acquired a habit of gross exaggeration. I am sur- 
prised at you. And as for my shoe,” she leaned 
over as she spoke and proceeded to tie it, “he 
would be kept busy if he began on that piece of 
work, for it is always coming untied. I must take 
lessons of a man in tying a bow-knot ; theirs never 


292 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

come undone as ours do. They have a different 
way of making a knot. I wonder if he would 
teach me ? ” 

“ Hope ! ” 

Hope looked up, her face rosy from her exertions 
and her stifled laughter. “ Di, you are too deli- 
cious ! Calm yourself, dear. I will get the safe 
and guileless Reggie to give me lessons in shoe- 
tying.” 

“Well, will you ever tell me wTat happened 
What did you say, and what did he say ? ” 

“ Why, do you really want to know ? ” cried Hope, 
with exaggerated surprise. “ I was under the 
impression that you interrupted me because you 
didn’t care to hear any more. If you do, I will go 
on and give you the details. I was walking along 
when — you are sure you want to hear, Di.? Quite 
sure .? ” 

“ Don’t be a goose. You know you wouldn’t miss 
telling me for the world.” 

“ How we are misunderstood ! ” exclaimed Hope, 
pathetically rolling up her eyes. “ I was only think- 
ing of your pleasure. Well, I was walking along 
wondering if he — I mean, wondering where you 
were, when I came to a path which crossed mine. 
I looked down this path, and I could scarcely believe 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


293 


my eyes, for coming along directly toward me was 
the very man — I mean, was ” — 

“Was the very man you had been thinking 
about” 

“ Another interruption ! ” sighed Hope, in a 
resigned voice. “ Was the very man I had been 
anxious to thank for getting us, you and me, out of 
an awful scrape. He looked smiling and pleasant ” — 

“ Humph ! ” fairly grunted Diana. 

“ Did you speak? ” asked Hope. “ I didn’t quite 
catch your remark.” 

“ Go on ! I didn’t speak, but I suppose you did.” 

“Yes, I did; and very politely, as I have been 
brought up to do.” 

“ To people you don’t know? ” 

“ To kind people who have proved themselves 
friends in a strange land ; who have rescued me 
and my friend from insult and persecution ; who — 
but I will spare you further details, for you know 
them already. As I said, he looked smiling and 
pleasant. He has very good teeth, Di. I am 
learning to appreciate the beauty of American teeth. 
And he has very fine eyes. They are such honest 
eyes.” 

“You are learning to appreciate the beauty of 
American eyes, too, I suppose.” 


294 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Yes, thoroughly. And his nose — ” 

“ Let us drop his nose and go on.” 

“ Drop his nose ! Why, my dear, it would break, 
and it is such a beautiful nose now! Fancy it with 
an ugly broken bump, perhaps right on the bridge 
— not the bridge of Avignon, Di, but the bridge 
of an American nose ! ” 

In spite of herself Diana laughed. “You are too 
absurd I Will you get beyond his personal appear- 
ance and tell me what he said.f^ I know what he 
looks like.” 

“ But you have seldom heard him speak. That 
is just the way I felt about it, and yet you blame me 
for stopping to talk to him. People are so inconsist- 
ent! Well, to make a long story short, I held out 
my hand very cordially when I saw him, and I said, 
‘ Oh, here you are again ! We have all wanted to see 
you to thank you for your great kindness at Taras- 
con. We tried to that day at La Plage, but you 
disappeared so quickly, and we haven’t been able to 
find you since, though we have looked for you.’ ” 

“ Hope ! As if we had all spent our time hunting 
for him ! ” 

“Would you rather I had said ‘/ have been look- 
ing for you ’ ? I didn’t think that would be at all 
proper. He seemed pleased, but of course he made 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 295 

light of what he did and said it was nothing, and he 
was very glad to restore us to our family, and then 
he informed me that he had just seen my sister. 

‘ My sister ! ’ I exclaimed, feeling quite rattled, and 
wondering if George Howard had actually brought 
the family. ‘ Do you mean Alice or Marjorie ? ’ ” 

“ Hope,” said Diana, “ I really and truly think 
that your head is turned by that man and you are 
losing. every vestige of what little common sense 
you ever had. Alice or Marjorie ! ” 

“ It was rather idiotic, I confess, but you see I was 
so taken by surprise at meeting him that I felt that 
anything was possible.” 

“ And what answer did he make to that } ” 

“ He said he didn’t know what her name was, but 
it was the sister who was with me at Avignon, at 
Tarascon, and at La Plage. I laughed and explained 
that my two sisters were at home, but that you were 
my dearest friend, and that it was not our mother 
and brother who were on the train, but friends we 
were travelling with.” 

“ You told him all this ? Why, Hope, you must 
have talked with him for hours^ 

“ Not at all. The time went all too quickly,” 
replied Hope, who was enjoying Diana’s disapproval 
almost as much as she had enjoyed her conversation 


296 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

with the unknown. “ And then I asked him where 
you were, and thanked him again and bowed very 
pleasantly, and then I walked one way and he the 
other. This makes the third time he has helped 
me; I told you there would be a third time. It 
would have been so hard to find you if he hadn’t 
pointed out the path. I might have been wander- 
ing even now looking for you.” 

“ Is he going to stay here long ? ” 

“ In the garden ? Are you anxious to see him, 
Di? If I had known that, I would have brought 
him with me.” 

“No, I am not. Is he going to stay at Hyeres ? 
You know very well what I mean.” 

“ Do you suppose I asked him ? Do you suppose 
he told me ? Di, you must think we talked a very 
long time.” 

“I do ; and I have no doubt that you know all 
his plans. What is his name ? ” 

“ He is still the Great Unknown ; still the hero of 
the Pont d' Avignon, I don’t know his name. I 
have no doubt it is John Smith or Thomas Jones, 
or some other equally uninteresting title. I do love 
a nice, romantic, high-sounding name, such as 
Adrian, or Victor, or Sidney, the kind the hero has 
in an English novel, but it would be just my luck to 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 297 

find that this is Thomas S. Jones, and that ‘S’ 
stands for Smith.” 

“ It can’t make the slightest difference to us what 
his name is,” said Diana, severely. “ Were- there 
any letters ? ” 

“Oh, didn’t I tell you.f^ Mr. Thomas S. Jones 
put it all out of my head. They are coming to- 
night, Mrs. Webster, Freddy, and Doctor Manning. 
Isn’t it exciting? Lois wrote Mrs. Manning and 
there was a note in it for us. Here it is, and I 
think she is quite wild to get to us : — 

“Girls, dearest girls! We are coming! coming! 
coming! We hope to be with you Tuesday even- 
ing. Doctor Manning thinks Freddy is quite equal 
to it, and Mrs. Webster has revived wonderfully. 
It means so much to have Doctor Manning come 
with us. He has been so kind and takes everything 
off my shoulders. Oh, girls, am I to see you soon ? 
It is too glorious to believe. 

“ Always yours, 

“ Lois. 

“ P. S. I shall never leave you again. I am sure 
you will enjoy having Doctor Manning. It will 
make up for Freddy, but he is ever so much nicer 
than he used to be. Doctor Manning has such a 


298 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

wonderful influence over him. Au revoir until 
Tuesday night. Doctor Manning says we shall get 
there about eight o’clock.” 

“ Isn’t she delighted ?” said Diana; “and isn’t it 
nice to have her feel so t ” 

“Indeed it is; and she seems to feel equally 
delighted with Doctor Manning. A note of barely 
a page, and she mentions his name one — two — 
three — four — five times ! ” 

“ I don’t wonder she does. He has been so 
devoted to them.” 

“ It is so unlike Lois to say so much. I believe 
her experiences in Paris have quite waked her up, 
and I am curious to see her. Dear old, placid, 
matter-of-fact, beautiful Lois ! It will be nice to 
have her with us again.” 

The travellers arrived that evening, weary from 
their long journey, but so glad to get there that they 
did not mind the fatigue as much as might have 
been expected of the two invalids. The doctor 
ordered them at once to bed and advised Mrs. Web- 
ster not to get up until late the following day. 
Freddy, he knew, would be quite rested after a 
night’s sleep, and equal to the fun of exploring 
a new place. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


299 


The Mannings went off to their rooms for a fam- 
ily talk and the three friends to theirs. Lois had 
one next to that of Diana and Hope, and it was 
late before they settled down for the night. There 
was so much to tell, so many confidences to be 
given and received. 

“ I feel as if I ought to confess something,” said 
Lois, when she had recounted her experiences in 
Paris. “ I didn’t do the right thing in leaving you. 
I ought to have insisted upon staying with you, and 
then Mrs. Webster would have yielded. I had no 
right to break up our party. I was well punished 
by the hard time I have had with Mrs. Webster. 

I am very fond of her, girls,” she added loyally, “ but 
when she isn’t feeling well she is apt to be a little 
exacting, you know.” 

“To put it mildly,” said Hope. “You know, 
very well, Lois, that she is an awfully selfish woman, 
about the least desirable person for a travelling- 
companion that we could have found in ‘ the States,’ 
as our English friends would say. I think you got 
out of it just in time ; you would have been worn to 
a shadow if it had gone on any longer. But you 
look pretty well ; it seems to me you are really look- 
ing better than when you left us.” 

“ Oh, I am very well now,” replied Lois, quickly ; 


300 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“ I was tired at one time, but I have been really 
better since Freddy’s accident — at least since after 
the first few days, for I haven’t had so much on my 
mind. Doctor Manning has helped me so much. 
For some reasons I don’t regret going to Paris, and 
I have had some good times there, and — and — I 
think it was all for the best.” 

Hope looked at her narrowly. What did Lois 
mean? There seemed to be an undercurrent of 
happiness about her that Hope had noticed at 
once — she had a habit of studying her friends and 
their moods. It was owing to her intense love for 
most of her fellow-beings and her equally intense 
dislike for those whom she did not love. Hope 
could seldom be indifferent in those days ; later in 
life she discovered what human nature is, and that 
we must learn to make allowances. She ceased to 
judge harshly, and she found as she grew older that 
there is at least a grain of good to be found in even 
the most hardened man or woman, if one only looks 
for it in the right way ; but in those days of her 
youth and ignorance she was a severe critic. 

The day after Lois arrived at Hyeres was that on 
which the band played in one of the gardens for two 
hours in the afternoon, and the girls decided to go. 

“It only plays twice a week,” explained Diana, 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


301 


“so we must make the most of it. It is fun to 
watch the people.” 

“ They are almost all French people,” said Hope. 
“ The English are at the big hotels, and I suppose 
they have amusements of their own and don’t con- 
descend to the gardens, for we hardly ever see them 
there. That is one reason why I am glad we are at 
Hyeres instead of at Cannes, or Nice, or Mentone, 
or any of the other places on the Riviera. They 
must be entirely given up to titled English and rich 
Americans, and you don’t get the real native life in 
the same way.” 

“ Sour grapes, I am afraid, Hope,” said Reginald, 
laughing. 

The three girls, with Arthur and Reginald Man- 
ning and Freddy Webster, were just leaving their 
hotel, and they stood for a few minutes looking at 
the square. 

“ It is quiet enough there now, but I just wish 
you could see it on Sunday, Arthur,” continued his 
brother. “ You just wait.” 

“ I can imagine it ; I have spent a good many 
Sundays in Paris. I have always wanted to see 
Provence ; the natives are a race of themselves, and 
are quite distinct and different from other French 
people.” 


302 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 


“ Very different,” said Hope ; “ they are a delight- 
ful people; so kind-hearted and cheerful, and the 
family life is so sweet. The English clergyman who 
came to see us the other day has lived here for 
many years, and he told us all about them. It is 
great fun to shop here. If you once cross the 
threshold you simply must buy something, if it is 
only a pin ; and the father, and mother, and all the 
children to the youngest baby come forward to assist 
at the sale.” 

“In all of France it is very much the same way,” 
said Arthur. “ Madame is the business manager of 
the family, and Monsieur doesn’t dare conduct the 
smallest affaire du finance without her advice and 
approval. Isn’t this an interesting street ? ” 

They were walking along the principal street, 
lined with its small shops. Many of the wares were 
displayed on the sidewalk, protected from the sun 
by long, loose, canvas curtains that flapped in the 
wind, but not shielded from the dust which blew in 
clouds over the laces, gloves, silks, and other finery 
that were exposed to view. 

“It is the windiest place I ever was in,” said 
Hope ; “ when we first came the mistral was terrible. 
The doors and windows rattled all night, and we 
could scarcely keep warm. The dust blew as high 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 303 

as the third-story windows, and when we walked in 
it, it seemed to cut our faces.” 

“ That couldn’t have improved your eyes. Miss 
Stuart,” said Doctor Manning. 

“No, I suppose not,” replied Diana, turning 
toward him for an instant the beautiful eyes that 
held so much expression in their brown depths, 
which even the ugly spectacles could not hide. His 
own looked at her with sympathy, for his profes- 
sional instinct told him how much she had suffered. 

They had reached the garden by this time, and 
hired chairs of the woman in charge. These they 
carried to a shady spot, where they sat while 
the band played in the Kiosque de Musique, the 
tall palms waved their graceful tops against the 
blue sky, and the natives and visitors walked about 
the garden talking, laughing, and gesticulating. The 
whole scene was unmistakably French. There were 
groups of peasant children on the free benches, the 
eldest perhaps a girl of ten, who sat knitting, with 
long wires for needles which flew with startling 
rapidity. The stocking grew visibly while the little 
“ knitter in the sun ” never glanced at her work, but 
bestowed her attention on the young family of whom 
she was in charge, or more often on the passers-by. 

An old man came along selling newspapers, doing 


304 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


a thriving business, while he called out in a high, 
rasping voice, “ Le Petit Bleu ! Le Petit Jour^ial ! ” 
Then came a vender of opera glasses, then a crippled 
beggar, showing some hideous deformity in the hope 
of appealing to the pity of his more fortunate fellow- 
beings. He was very cheerful, however, and if the 
alms bestowed was not to his liking, he expostulated 
with the person who had given it, assuring him with 
a laugh and a joke that it was not enough, to which 
the giver returned an equally humorous reply. 

“ Surely they are the most cheerful people in the 
world,” said Hope, when they had listened to a con- 
versation of this kind. “ They always have some- 
thing jolly to say and something to laugh about. 
Even the beggars have their jokes. We had such a 
funny time with a milliner the other day, buying a 
hat for Diana.” 

“ I thought Di had a new hat,” said Lois, looking 
at it critically. 

“ Oh, yes. We had been gazing at it for weeks 
in the window before we bought it. I was pretty 
sure Di would get it eventually, but we didn’t dare 
to go in, for we knew our fate would be sealed if we 
did, so we hung over the window every time we 
passed by. At last Madame the milliner couldn’t 
stand it any longer. She came out and invited us 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 305 

in, assuring us that it was '‘entree litre' Libre! 
It was anything else. She placed the untrimmed 
hat on Diana’s head, and said she had never seen 
anything so beautiful ; Mademoiselle was lovely 
before, but now she was angelic. We asked the 
price, and she said eight francs. Fancy it for an 
untrimmed simple straw ! We said it was too much, 
and we finally succeeded in beating her down to 
five francs, and we said we would take it if she 
would stretch it a little. She was radiant, and then 
we found that we didn’t have that much money with 
us. I wish you could have seen Madame’s face fall ! 
Then we told her we would come back in the after- 
noon and bring the money with us, and take the 
hat. 

“ ‘ Bien ! ’ she cried les A nglaises can always 
be trusted.’ 

‘“But we are not A nglaises, we are Americans,’ 
we said. 

“ 'Les Americaines / Tant mieux! Tant mieux! 
Americans are always rich.’ 

“ I was dreadfully afraid she would tack on the 
three francs again that we had had such a hard time 
getting her to take off, so I assured her in my most 
emphatic French that we were not rich ; on the con- 
trary, we were very poor. 


3o6 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


“‘Impossible!’ she cried. ‘Your country is far 
away, you travel, you come here and stay at these 
hotels, where you are obliged to pay vast sums. It 
takes beaucoup, beaucoup cT argent to come. You 
come; therefore you have the money. You are 
rich.’ 

“ That did sound rather unanswerable, so I said 
that sometimes people had to spend money for 
health; that my friend had come for that. She 
turned to Diana. '‘Mademoiselle est malade? Im- 
possible ! She has not the air of being ill.’ Diana 
explained that it was her eyes and her nerves, so 
she didn’t look ill. 

“ ‘ Nerves ! ’ cried Madame, throwing up her hands, 
‘ I too have nerves. Is Mademoiselle afflicted as I 
am ? When one tells me she has a headache, I too 
have a headache. When one mentions a pain in 
the shoulder, I too have a pain in the shoulder. Is 
it so with Mademoiselle ? ’ ” 

“ Pretty good,” said Doctor Manning, laughing, 
as they all did, at Hope’s history. “What did you 
tell her. Miss Stuart ? ” 

“ I said that my own aches and pains were enough 
without those of my friends,” replied Diana, with her 
slow, sweet smile. Arthur thought he had never 
seen a more charming face than hers. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 307 

“ And she let us have the hat,” added Hope; “we 
went back with the money, but I don’t think she 
had stretched it at all.” 

“ It is a very pretty hat,” said Arthur. He 
glanced again at the hat and its wearer. Then he 
caught sight of Hope’s face, across which was flit- 
ting a new expression. Evidently she had seen 
something or some person in the crowd who inter- 
ested her extremely. His eyes followed hers, and 
then he uttered an exclamation of surprise and 
pleasure. 

“ Of all the lucky things that ever happened ! ” he 
said, as he jumped to his feet. “ Excuse me a 
moment.” He almost ran across the garden, and 
seized the hand of a man who had just come in the 
gate, slapping him vigorously on the shoulder. 
The salutation was returned in the same manner 
and spirit. 

Hope looked at Diana and Diana looked at Hope, 
while Reginald began to hum : — 


^ Sur le pont^ sur le pont, sur le pont Avignon' 


Hope, cheer up, my child. All things come to her 
who waits, even mysterious will-o’-the-wisps. Ap- 
parently he is a long-lost cousin.” 


3o8 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


And then across the garden came Arthur and 
Hope’s nameless hero. 

“ Here is an old college friend whom I haven’t 
seen for years ! ” exclaimed Arthur, joyfully. And 
he introduced to them Mr. Philip Sargent. 

“And his name isn’t Thomas S. Jones,” whis- 
pered Hope to Diana. 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 


I T was some weeks later. The sun had grown 
hotter, the mistral had ceased to blow, the mi- 
mosa trees were blossoming in yellow glory, the air 
was filled with the singing of birds. Springtime 
had come once more to this southern land, and all 
nature was doing homage to her. 

It was uncomfortably warm now in the middle 
of the day, and even the men among the foreign 
visitors carried umbrellas. The proprietors of the 
cafes had placed little tables upon the sidewalks, 
where their patrons could sit in comfort and discuss 
the affairs of the nation, and all of Hyeres had 
turned out-of-doors to revel in the balmy weather. 

These weeks had seen progress in other affairs as 
well. Mrs. Webster had regained her strength to a 
wonderful degree, and appeared to be as well as 
any one ; Freddy was also perfectly well again, and 
ready to make up for time lost in being an invalid ; 
and Philip Sargent had become so completely one 
of the party that it was difficult to realize that they 
309 


310 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

had known his name so short a time. Already a 
number of excursions had been taken, and more 
were planned. They had been to Toulon for the 
day and had explored the city, they had seen the 
French fleet arrived for the manoeuvres, and had 
even been on board of a man-of-war in the harbor. 
They had walked several times to Costebelle, not 
far from Hyeres, to see the magnificent view. 
They had also visited Carqueiranne, and they went 
to see the salt marshes, a thousand acres in extent, 
which produce many thousand of tons of salt in a 
year. 

The addition of two young men to the party 
made their daily life quite different from what it 
had been when Hope and Diana were alone with 
the Mannings, and the days on which they stayed 
quietly at Hyeres were passed in planning some 
new excursion. The latest suggestion was for a 
picnic, and it emanated from the fertile brain of 
Hope. 

“ A regular old-fashioned American picnic,” said 
she, “ with baskets of sandwiches and hard-boiled 
eggs and bottles of olives and cold coffee. Alas, 
that I can’t say iced coffee ! ” 

They were at La Plage when she thought of this 
festivity, sitting on the sand by the little waves of 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 31I 

the blue and tideless Mediterranean. They had all 
driven over in the omnibus to spend the afternoon 
on the beach. 

“ That sounds good,” said Philip Sargent, “ and I 
dare say the me7iu can be carried out if you are 
willing to boil the eggs yourself and will be content 
with cooked olives.” 

“ Those brown, bitter, shrivelled things are not 
what I call olives,” said Hope, “ and the suspense 
involved in eating them wears upon my temper. 
You pick out a fine, large, plump, brown olive; you 
convey it to your mouth. Is it going to be the 
most delicious morsel you ever tasted, or is it going 
to be so bitter and horrible that the memory of it 
will dwell with you forever? Time alone will 
prove. I don’t like olives in their own country 
nearly as well as the salty-soury-greenery-yallery 
ones we have at home.” 

“ There are so many surprises when you come to 
the native land of things and people,” said Sargent. 

“Sardines, for instance,” suggested Reginald. 
“ Who could imagine a sardine anything but a little 
shiny, slimy, slippery fishlet packed tight in a tin 
box and swimming in oil ? Did it ever occur to 
you that a sardine actually grew and lived in the sea, 
just like whales or cod or mackerel or any other 


312 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


everyday old fish ? When they came on the table 
here, long and brown and fried and hot, I had to be 
introduced to them all over again. It was very 
boring, as Cecil Beauchamp would say. By the 
way, I had a letter from Cecil this morning. He’s 
begun to write to me ; I wonder what for. I’ve had 
three letters from him since you came.” 

Reginald gazed meditatively at Lois. 

“We saw a good deal of him in Paris,” said she, 
calmly. 

“ So I Imagined. He said he tried to get his 
mother to come to Hyeres, but she wouldn’t. He 
sent a whole string of messages to you, Lois.” 

“ Then why haven’t you delivered them } ” 

“ Forgot them till this minute, and now I can’t 
remember them.” 

“ That’s an Irish speech,” laughed Hope ; “ but 
about the picnic ? ” 

“We will have it. Miss Conway,” said Sargent. 
“ Shall it be to-morrow ? ” 

“ Why not the day after ? ” said Diana. “ That is 
Hope’s birthday.” 

“ Good ! The very way to celebrate it ! Splen- 
did ! ” they all exclaimed. 

“ Di, what did you tell for } ” cried Hope. “ I 
meant to have told you not to give it away. I am 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 313 

getting so awfully old I am quite sensitive. Eigh- 
teen years old ! And Di and Lois won’t either of 
them be that for months. There is one time of the 
year when we are all the same age at once, and then 
I go shooting ahead.” 

“ How do you make that out ? ” asked Arthur. 

Diana explained that the birthdays of herself and 
Lois were in December, while the others discussed 
the picnic in all its bearings. After a while they had 
tea or chocolate at the little restaurant, and then 
they walked through the garden to the place where 
they had seen the caterpillars, in the hope of showing 
them to Freddy. 

“ What did you think of us, Mr. Sargent, that 
day you found us all so absorbed in them ? ” asked 
Hope. “We must have looked perfectly absurd.” 

“ I thought, ‘ Here are those nice-looking Ameri- 
cans. I wish I knew them.’ ” 

“ Very flattering ! And it is quite natural now 
that you should wish to make us think that you 
really thought so then, but at the time you burst 
into uproarious mirth and scampered away from 
us as fast as you could go. Why didn’t you stay 
and give us a chance to speak to you ? ” 

“ Because I knew Miss Stuart wouldn’t approve,” 
he replied, glancing at Diana. “ She doesn’t alto- 


314 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

gether smile upon strange adventurers who are found 
straying on old broken-down bridges, and haunt- 
ing railway stations and gardens and other queer 
places.” He laughed as he spoke, and so did Diana. 

“ You mustn’t harbor that up against me,” said 
she. “ I am obliged to be very stiff and dignified 
as an offset to Hope.” 

“ You were glad enough to lay aside your stiffness 
and dignity when Mr. Sargent helped us about tak- 
ing the train at Tarascon,” retorted Hope; “and I 
defy any one to be dignified when their hat blows 
off in the mistral.” 

The younger members of the party walked back 
from La Plage to Hyeres, Mrs. Manning and Mrs. 
Webster returning by train. They started in an 
irregular group, but very soon they had divided up 
in the usual way ; Hope and Philip Sargent walked 
in front, swinging along at a rapid gait and talking 
as briskly as they walked; then came Lois and 
Reginald ; and at some distance behind were Diana 
and Arthur Manning. Freddy distributed his atten- 
tions among them impartially. His devotion to his 
doctor was unabated, but he found Reginald as good 
fun as ever. Hope was always entertaining, but he 
could not quite understand her conversations with 
Mr. Sargent when the two were walking alone. 


. THREE GIRLS OF HA ZELMERE. 315 

“ Hope’s as funny as ‘ Through the Looking Glass’ 
when she’s with a lot of other people,” said he, “ but 
when she’s talking to Mr. Sargent she’s as solemn 
as an owl half the time. They talk about books and 
things ; books a fellow never heard of and don’t 
want to hear of, and what they can find so interest- 
ing in them I can’t see.” He was skipping along 
beside Lois and Reginald when he said this. 

“ Very true,” said Reginald ; “ Hope only needed 
to find out that Sargent was an author to think him 
just too lovely. She knows all his books by heart, 
and can quote yards of them to him, and he seems 
to like it. For my part, if I were a writer I would 
rather have something new fired at me ; not old 
stuff that I had written myself, wouldn’t you, Lois.” 

“ Yes, by all means ; I mean, no. Really, I beg 
your pardon, Reggie, but what did you say ? I was 
thinking of something else.” 

Reginald laughed in his usual hilarious fashion. 

“ A penny for your thoughts, Lois! Were they 
in Paris .? ” 

“ Paris I ” repeated Lois, scornfully. 

Reginald persisted in thinking that Cecil Beau- 
champ had been especially attentive to her, and he 
teased her unmercifully. The girl’s face and spirits 
had certainly changed perceptibly during these two 


3i6 three girls of hazelmere. 

weeks, although only Hope and Reginald had re- 
marked upon it. 

In the meantime Diana and Arthur were walking 
more slowly behind the others. Tall as Diana was 
he was still taller, and with his great breadth of 
shoulder and his thick fair hair and blue eyes he 
looked like a young Norseman. He was talking 
about matters of small importance, but his voice 
was so gay and his laugh so ready that Diana, whose 
depression of spirits had deepened during the last 
few days, felt cheered in spite of herself. 

“ I wish I could look on the world as you do,” 
said she, suddenly ; “ are you never low-spirited } ” 

“ Sometimes, but not often. I am so very well you 
know, and merely being alive is such a pleasure.” 

“Yes, you are very well and strong. That is 
the secret of it, isn’t it ? People who are gay and 
cheerful when they are ill are heroes, aren’t they ? 
I wonder how you would be if you were not well 
and were suddenly obliged to give up your chosen 
profession } ” 

“ I don’t know,” said he, growing grave at once, 
and speaking with a note of tender sympathy in his 
voice that went straight to Diana’s heart ; “ I don’t 
know. It would be awfully hard lines. One loves 
one’s work so tremendously. I am so sorry for you. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 3 1 7 

Miss Stuart ; so awfully sorry. With your work, 
especially, it must be so hard to give up.” 

“ It is terrible,” said she, turning toward him a 
face which had grown white with intense feeling, 
while her eyes were larger and darker even than 
usual. “Sometimes I feel as if I couldn’t bear it. 
Why are things made so hard for people ? If God 
is good and kind, why does He send such trials 
Why is there so much suffering in the world I 
cannot understand it.” 

“ It is hard to understand,” said Arthur, slowly. 
“ No one realizes the suffering more than a physi- 
cian, and so often we are powerless to help it. But, 
you know, suffering brings out qualities of character 
that nothing else would affect. The man or woman 
who has suffered and has taken it in the right way 
is sure to come out a better, stronger man or 
woman for the suffering, and more able to help 
others. You know there are two ways of taking it; 
either we get narrow and bitter, or broad and noble. 
It lies within ourselves.” 

“ How do you know all this ” asked the girl. 
“You are young and you cannot have suffered very 
much. You say yourself that you have always been 
very well.” 

“ There are other sorrows and trials than ill 


3i8 three girls of hazelmere. 

health,” he replied quietly. “ I am twenty-six, so I 
have had time to have troubles. My father’s death 
was a great grief to me ; I was seventeen then. We 
were the best of chums, and I missed him awfully. 
He had a long and painful illness, and watching his 
pain made me determine to be a doctor. I realized 
then how much pain there must be in the world, 
and I wanted to do what I could to help.” 

“ Why is it so Why do we come into the world 
— so many of us — only for pain and trouble } ” 

“ Please don't talk that way. Miss Stuart,” said he, 
gently. “ Your life hasn’t all been pain and trouble, 
I am sure, and it will not be so in the future. 
There are so many things that we can’t understand 
now and that we must accept. Some day I think 
we shall know why. One thing we are really sure 
of now is that this wonderful life was given to us 
for some good purpose, and we are given the chance 
to make the best and the most of it. It is a great 
privilege.” 

They walked on in silence for some minutes. 
The road was now a narrow lane, leading between 
walls of masonry twelve feet high, built to protect 
the plants in the fields beyond from the force of the 
mistral. A little brook flowed at the foot of the 
wall, and wild flowers grew on the banks, shining 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 319 

yellow-bright among the green. Farther on a dozen 
or so of women washed their clothes in the water as 
it rushed rapidly over the stones, and in the fields 
which they had already passed were rows and rows 
of women and girls who stooped over the plants, 
their heads tied up in gay-colored cloths to shield 
them from the hot sun. 

“ Do you know,” said Diana,“ I could almost envy 
these peasant women ; they have their work to do 
and they can do it.” 

“ And so have you.” 

“ Doctor Manning ! What do you mean .? I 
have to give it up. The talent has been given to 
me only to be taken away again. What else can I 
do ? I have no other talent than painting.” 

“ I don’t know, but I am positive that there is 
some other purpose for your life than painting. 
Apparently you are not to be allowed to do that. 
Well, then, turn your attention to something else 
that doesn’t require good strong eyes.” 

“ I haven’t any other talent,” repeated Diana ; “ I 
am like the man in the Bible who only had one, and 
though I don’t want to hide it in a napkin, I am 
obliged to.” 

“Nonsense!” exclaimed the young man. “For 
all you know you may be the one who had five or 


320 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


even ten talents, and if you go on in this way you 
will be hiding them all in a napkin and so be worse 
than the original owner of only one. I firmly 
believe that this trial has come to you for the sole 
purpose of making you find out what stuff you are 
made of and what else you can do. There are hun- 
dreds of others things to be done in the world besides 
painting pictures. You don’t mind my preaching 
at you this way, do you. Miss Stuart ? ” 

“ Oh, no, indeed ! I like it, and I thank you for it. 
It has been such a relief to talk to you. I feel as 
if I had always known you and could talk to you as 
freely as I would to Hope, and yet that it will not 
worry you as I am afraid it does her. That is the 
reason I have tried to keep it in, and have been so 
anxious and distressed and — oh, you know, it has 
been a fearful disappointment, this trip ! And 
though I have really tried very hard to be cheerful, 
it has seemed sometimes as if I couldn’t bear it in 
silence any longer.” 

“ It must have been awfully hard,” said he, warmly ; 
“ I wish you would talk to me whenever you feel 
like it. Make me your safety-valve.” 

“You have done me ever so much good now,” 
said Diana, gratefully ; “ I feel cheerfuller already, as 
Hope would say. I must think up my other four — 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 32 1 

or is it nine ? — talents that you say I have, lying 
hidden away. They lie pretty deep, I’m afraid. 
Perhaps — what do you think } Do you suppose I 
could study nursing } ” 

“ Of course you could. How I wish you would ! ” 

The day of the picnic, Hope’s birthday, dawned 
clear and warm, and at ten o’clock the younger 
members of the party set forth ; Mrs. Manning and 
Mrs. Webster, with the luncheon, were to be driven 
later in the morning to the appointed spot. They 
left the chief street of the town with its narrow side- 
walks basking in the sun, and, turning abruptly, they 
took a road which wound up and along the hillside. 
The hill was a mass of green foliage, of red roses, 
and of white and yellows flowers, and in the woods 
the birds were filling the April air with their joyous 
songs. Up and up they climbed, pausing now and 
again to look at the view. Yellow dandelions and 
scarlet poppies dotted the grass close at hand, on the 
terraced hillside olive trees were darkly green, away 
at the foot of the hill was the broad white highway 
which leads to Toulon, over which an occasional 
vehicle passed, a mere speck in the distance. 
Farms and villas dotted the valley, and away off be- 
yond were the mountains, looming through the hazy 
morning light. Beautiful Provence was smiling 


322 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

that day, and it was with th^ sweetest of smiles — 
that of one who knows, too, what it is to weep. 

They walked until they reached the site of the 
ancient castle, and, having explored the ruins, for the 
tower and some of the ramparts still remain, they 
established themselves near the summit of the hill. 
The view was magnificent, for the town of Hyeres 
lay spread out before them ; the great hotels, the 
villas, the avenues of palms, the white roads, and 
away beyond the Mediterranean. 

“ It is all so beautiful,” said Hope in a low voice 
to Sargent, “ so beautiful that it saddens me. I feel 
that I can’t grasp it. There is so much beauty that 
my little weak, human intelligence can’t take it in. 
Do you ever feel so ? ” 

“ I do, indeed,” said he. They were standing a little 
apart from the others. “ It is the feeling that I often 
have when I am writing and I am trying to express 
in words some deep emotion of the heart. There 
are some thoughts, some ideas, that flit through the 
dim recesses of the mind so vaguely that we can’t 
grasp them, and yet we are conscious that they are 
there, and we know that they are beautiful.” 

“Yes!” said Hope, turning toward him. Her 
face, always vividly expressing every passing mood, 
was aglow with color, her eyes had grown large and 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


323 


bright, and she looked at him with an eager interest 
that made her very charming. “ Yes, I know what 
that is; but I didn’t suppose that you who have 
written so much, and seem to find words to express 
so beautifully and so forcibly all that you want to 
say, I didn’t dream that you ever have that difficulty. 
I thought it was only ignorant I. There are times 
when I positively ache with thoughts and ideas 
that I can’t say. I try to grasp them and put them 
into words, and they vanish while I try. The very 
trying makes them go. I feel then as I did once 
when I was in the White Mountains at home. 
We went up Mount Washington in a dense fog. 
The clouds had settled thick all about, and it was 
• impossible to realize that we were on a mountain, or 
that there was anything anywhere that could ever be 
seen. And then, suddenly, when we were least ex- 
pecting it, the clouds parted. There was a rift ! The 
most exquisite of views lay before us. And then, 
before we had time to speak of it, it was gone. The 
clouds had shut down again. They had parted only 
long enough to let us know that something was there. 
Something better and more beautiful than what we 
had with us, but we couldn’t grasp it.” 

“ But you knew it was there, and you will always 
know it,” said Sargent ; “ and Miss Conway, believe 


324 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


me, it is the most precious possession a man or 
woman can have! To my mind, it is better than 
wealth, or ordinary pleasures, or any of the things 
that people hold to be so valuable — that power to 
feel beyond, even though we can’t always see. Not 
every one has the power, and to those of us who 
have it, it doesn’t reveal itself very often; but once 
in a while we know that truth and beauty are there. 
It is the divine spark.” 

“ And I like to think,” said Hope, in so low a 
voice that the words were almost whispered, “ that 
in heaven we shall be able to grasp the whole.” 

They were silent after this. They had already 
reached the degree of friendship where spoken words 
are not necessary when the quiet mood comes. 

Presently a shrill voice rang out, very clear and 
peremptory. “ Hope 1 Hope I Come here quick I 
It’s your birthday, and there are presents, and I’m 
so hungry I can’t wait another minute.” 

Of course it was Freddy who thus summoned them 
to the feast. Mrs. Manning, with Lois and Reginald, 
had arranged it, while Mrs. Webster, in her character 
of semi-invalid, had placed herself comfortably on 
cushions, near enough to give suggestions and di- 
rections, but at a sufficient distance to require some 
waiting upon when the repast began. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


325 


“How exciting!” cried Hope, as she hurried 
forward. “ Presents up here on top of a hill } How- 
ever did you bring them } ” 

“ They came in that basket,” replied Freddy, 
“and Mr. Sargent carried it all the way.” 

“ And you made me think it was a basket of 
eggs I ” said Hope. 

“ I told you you might guess,” said Sargent, 
“and you immediately declared that it was eggs, 
and you know I never contradict you.” 

“ Don’t you.f^ I am not so sure of that. There 
are certainly lots of times when you don’t agree 
with me. But where are the others 'I Di and 
Doctor Manning are not here.” 

“ They’re off spooning, I guess,” said Freddy, 
hopping on one foot around the impromptu table 
as he spoke. 

“ Freddy I ” exclaimed Mrs. Manning. 

“Well, I don’t mean real spoons,” returned the 
incorrigible enfant terrible, “ but sort of imitation. 
I heard ’em the other day. Di gets dumpy and 
looks as if she’d like to cry, only she doesn’t, 
and then Doctor Manning shines his eyes at her 
and says something that makes her laugh, and 
she clears right up. Doctor Manning makes every- 
body clear up. There was Lois one day — ” 


326 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Freddy,” interrupted Hope, “ it is quite time we 
began to eat. Just call Di as loud as you called me, 
and tell her to come right away. I must see my 
presents at once.” As she spoke she stepped in 
front of Lois, who was thus completely hidden from 
the others. “ Lois, you haven’t put out my own 
precious silver cup ! Just look in the basket, won’t 
you 1 I can’t possibly drink out of anything but 
my own baby cup on my birthday. I have carried 
it all over Europe.” 

Lois turned to search for the cup, which Hope 
knew perfectly well was locked in her trunk at the 
hotel, but she had saved the situation for Lois. 
And then, in a moment, the missing members of 
the party came strolling along a woody path, and 
the feast began. Every one else was so gay that 
no one noticed that Lois was quiet; no one but 
Hope, the heroine of the occasion. 

The presents were bestowed : all sorts of amusing 
trifles, which represented past jokes or gave point to 
Hope’s various characteristics. Speeches were made, 
and the fun ran high, and then after a while came 
the time to go down from the hill. The baskets 
were sent back by a man who came for them, and 
the party set forth for the hotel by a different 
route from that by which they had come. 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 



HEIR way lay through the old town, as it 


A is called ; the picturesque, ill-smelling streets, 
which are so narrow that as they walked in the 
middle of them they could have almost touched the 
walls with their outstretched arms on either side, 
and so dirty that it required some determination to 
pick their way over the uneven stones which formed 
the pavement, and which were laid there centuries 


ago. 


They found here none of the light and brightness 
of Hyeres, for the old houses, built of rough masonry, 
rose high enough to shut out much of the daylight. 
Some peasant girls looked down from their narrow 
windows upon the group of foreigners who, laughing 
and talking gayly, passed beneath. Les Anglaises/ ” 
said the girls, and stretched out their heads to 
watch them. Ancient women and small children sat 
in some of the doorways, knitting and gossiping. 
The women of Provence begin early to knit and 
gossip, and a girl of eight is almost as far advanced 


327 ' 


328 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

« 

in these two pursuits as is her grandmother. 
Where the interior of one of these old houses 
could be seen, it looked black and gloomy and 
inexpressibly dirty. 

The Americans were all together. Mr. Sargent 
walked in front, leading the way, for he had 
explored the old town so thoroughly that he was 
familiar with all its ramifications and the sudden 
twists and turns of the streets. After a time Lois 
rather lagged behind. She felt very tired, and it 
was impossible for her to keep up with the brisk 
pace set by the others. Neither did she have 
energy enough to join in the gay conversation. 
The day had seemed long to her, and she had been 
glad when the time had come to start for the hotel. 
She walked more and more slowly, but no one 
noticed that she was falling behind. They were all 
pointing out and looking at the quaint, foreign 
scenes. 

“ I will let them go on without me,” said Lois to 
herself. “No one will care if I am not with them. 
I can follow on behind alone.” 

So she walked very slowly ; and, with her eyes on 
the ground and her mind absorbed in her own 
thoughts, she paid no further heed to the course 
pursued by her friends. Somewhat later she 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


329 


awakened to the fact that the street had grown 
strangely quiet. The laughing voices which uncon- 
sciously she had followed could no longer be heard. 
She looked in front of her, down the long narrow 
street ; not a creature could be seen. Her friends 
had disappeared. 

As she had wished to leave them, this discovery 
did not disturb Lois in the least. She was quite 
sure that she could find her way alone, and she was 
rather glad than otherwise that she had lost sight of 
them. 

“ I suppose they took a turn somewhere along 
here,” she said to herself, “ and I will do the same 
thing.” 

But when she came to an intersecting street she 
found that it led back up the hill again. She turned 
and looked about her ; she walked up a little distance 
and then took another turn. These streets all 
looked alike ; long and dark and so very narrow 
that one could see nothing in the distance. In a 
very short time Lois had completely lost her way. 
None of the natives were to be seen in the street 
through which she was now passing, but as she 
glanced in at the dark doorways it seemed as if 
sinister faces were dimly visible through the darkness. 
Although she knew that the Provence people were 


330 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

a kindly race, she was frightened. It was all so 
strange, so very foreign. 

Presently she turned another corner and saw a 
group of women and children. She stopped before 
them and asked her way. They pointed, gesticu- 
lated, and poured forth a torrent of words, of which 
she could not understand one. The Proven9al 
tongue resembles Italian more than it does Parisian 
French. They seemed to point, however, to the 
left, so Lois turned and went back. The children 
followed her, clamoring for sous, and she gave them 
some money that she might be rid of them. As 
she put her purse back into her pocket a man 
stepped out of one of the dark doorways. 

He was an unpleasant-looking object whom she 
had seen begging in the gardens. He had a wooden 
leg, and he had lost one of his hands, and he was in 
the habit of thrusting forward what was left of this 
arm to excite the pity of the people, while with his 
remaining hand he held his hat for alms. 

Lois hurried on, but the wooden leg stumped as 
quickly over the cobble-stones. This dreadful beg- 
gar was following her, she very well knew, and she 
began to run, tired though she was, and in imminent 
danger of tripping over the rough stones. She 
came to another street and, as is the custom in 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 33 1 

Hyeres, both old and new, its name was placed con- 
spicuously upon the wall of one of the houses. It 
was the Rue Paradis, 

The name seemed to give Lois courage for a 
desperate alternative. If she followed this long Rue 
Paradis which seemed to have no end, she would 
soon be overtaken by her pursuer, but if she could 
escape from him for a few minutes by taking refuge 
in one of the houses around the corner until he had 
passed on, she might then retrace her steps. After- 
ward she would try to find her way to the summit 
of the hill, and then return to the new town by the 
way by which they had gone to the picnic that 
morning. She scarcely dared venture into one of 
these houses, but could anything be worse than this 
dreadful beggar } She glanced back over her 
shoulder; he was running with a briskness incredi- 
ble in a wooden leg. There was no time to be lost, 
and in a moment Lois had turned the corner of the 
Rue Paradis and had disappeared. 

In the meantime her friends had walked on until 
they reached the market-place. Here fruit and vege- 
tables were displayed, and the clamoring natives 
bought and sold in the crowded street and open 
square. This part of the old town was separated 


332 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


from the new town by the solid walls of houses, and 
the only communication was by means of dark, tun- 
nel-like streets built beneath them. The two quar- 
ters were as distinct from each other in all their 
characteristics as though they had been many miles 
apart. 

The Americans stopped to buy some oranges, and 
it was then that Lois was first missed. 

“ I don’t see Miss Putnam,” said Arthur Manning. 
He looked back and up the street by which they 
had just come. “ Has any one seen her lately 1 ” 

When they thought about it they remembered 
that not one of them had spoken with Lois within 
the last ten minutes. 

“ But she has been with us, I am sure,” said 
Hope; “she was walking behind us all.” 

“ Oh, of course, she was with us,” said Diana, “ or 
I should have missed her before.” 

“ She has probably stopped to look at something,” 
suggested Mrs. Manning. “ Arthur, you would 
better go back and meet her. It is not a nice place 
for her to be in alone.” 

“Yes, I will,” said he. “You needn’t wait. I 
will bring her to the hotel. I remember now that 
she looked tired, and we ought not to have hurried 
on as we did.” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


333 


So the others finished their purchases and walked 
down under the arch and out to their hotel, while 
Arthur retraced his steps. He found no sign of 
Lois, however, and presently he began to feel 
vaguely alarmed. What could have become of the 
girl, and how long had she been missing? He was 
annoyed that they had all been so careless. He 
should have watched her when he saw how tired she 
looked. Poor little girl, she had not looked well 
since they came. All that she went through in 
Paris with Mrs. Webster had been too much for her, 
and the southern climate was perhaps too enervating. 

It suddenly occurred to Arthur as he tramped up 
the stony lane that he had really seen very little of 
Lois since they had arrived at Hyeres, although in 
Paris they had been such good friends. He liked 
her immensely, he said to himself, and she was as 
pretty as a picture, although he himself preferred 
dark hair and eyes; Diana’s, for instance. And 
there was much in Diana’s face that was lacking in 
that of Lois; so much more character, so much 
unselfishness and sweetness. And her self-control 
was wonderful, for the poor girl had undoubtedly 
suffered great physical as well as mental pain. And 
so, while looking for Lois, he thought of Diana, and 
presently he turned into the Rue Paradis, 


334 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Where can she be ? ” he said to himself, at last 
thoroughly alive to the fact that Lois had com- 
pletely disappeared. “ I have come directly back 
by the way we came. There is not a living creature 
in this street — ah, yes ! Some one sitting on a 
doorstep; it is that poor cripple who begs in the 
gardens.” 

He felt in his pockets for some sous and stopped 
with a kind word for the beggar. He stood in the 
middle of the dark little Rue Paradis and talked 
pleasantly with the man, and then it occurred to him 
to ask if he had seen a young American lady walking 
alone. The beggar was loud in his protestations. 
He called on Heaven to witness that he had seen no 
sign of any young American lady, but if Milord 
would but bestow sous, to the number of at least 
twenty, he would help him to look for her. Before 
Manning could answer he heard a familiar voice 
behind him, and, turning, he saw Lois come out of 
one of the dark doorways. 

“ Arthur ! ” she exclaimed, slipping her hand 
through his arm ; “ Arthur, you have come at last j 
You have saved me from that dreadful man ! He 
ran after me — he — ” And then she broke down 
completely, and, hiding her face on his arm, she 
sobbed with terror, fatigue, and extreme relief. 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


335 


“You poor little girl!” said Manning, kindly; 
“you have been frightened to death. How did it 
ever happen that you got separated from the rest of 
us .? ” 

“ I was tired,” faltered Lois, recovering herself ; 
“ I couldn’t walk so fast, and none of you noticed. 
And then that dreadful beggar — ” 

Arthur turned quickly. In the surprise and relief 
of finding Lois he had delayed justice for the beg- 
gar, but he was now too late: the man had dis- 
appeared. 

“ I wish I could get him ! ” said Manning, savagely. 
“ The scamp I And to think that I gave him money ! 
I’ll look him up yet and hand him over to the 
authorities — if there are any.” 

“ Oh, never mind him ! ” said Lois. “ Now that 
you have come, it is no matter. You see, I lost my 
way, and then he saw me giving some money to 
some children and followed me. The only thing 
for me to do was to hide. I thought I should have 
to stay in that dark, dreadful place all night, and I 
was wondering what I should do when the people 
who live there should come and find me. They 
might have been friends of the beggar and would 
have let him in.” 

She shuddered and began to cry again. 


336 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

“ Come ! come ! ” said Arthur, who had the usual 
masculine repugnance for feminine tears. “ It is all 
over now, and we won’t think of the creature again. 
He only wanted all the money you would give him. 
I am sorry we walked so fast. You ought to have 
told us, and Miss Stuart and I could easily have 
waited for you. She has been in the old town a 
good many times, she told me, and knows her way 
about thoroughly. What a remarkable girl she 
is ! ” 

And in order to distract Lois’s mind from her 
adventure and with the desire to cheer her, he pro- 
ceeded to talk about Diana; and Lois listened. 
And before they had turned out of the Rue Paradis 
she knew ! 

The next day was the first of May. Early in the 
morning when the girls awoke they heard the steady 
hum of voices, which in that land of conversation 
is seldom absent, but which on notable occasions 
becomes deepened until it is not unlike the roar of 
water. Later, when they got up and looked out of 
the windows, they beheld a complete transformation 
of the usual familiar scene. The square below was 
full of booths made of gay-colored canvas, and 
tables, each one of which was surmounted by a huge 
blue, red, or yellow umbrella. An immense number 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 337 

of tin articles, of all shapes and sizes, gleamed in 
the sun. Piles of chairs awaited purchasers. The 
rows of tables under the newly leaved trees were 
filled with every variety of ware, from hairpins to 
farming implements, from toys to household goods. 
All the gaming-tables were in readiness, with live 
birds in cages for prizes. It was May Day, and the 
great semi-annual fair had begun. 

As the day wore on the scene became more and 
more animated and fascinating. All the way up the 
narrow street that climbed the hill venders were 
stationed, while down another and wider road there 
was a sale of horses and donkeys and other live- 
stock. Men with great quantities of red and blue 
toy balloons and huge carts filled with oranges 
added to the color, as did also the blue smocks of 
the peasants who had gathered from all the country 
round for this great occasion. Music of various 
kinds, from hand-organs and hurdy-gurdies to drums 
and tin horns, made the day hideous, and a fierce, 
hot wind raised clouds of dust, but bargaining went 
on briskly. The pavements in front of the caf& 
were filled with people at the little tables, while 
hundreds of others walked about, and there was no 
end to the noise, confusion, and color. 

Freddy, with money in his pockets, started forth 


338 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

early to enjoy the day. He had picked up a suffi- 
cient quantity of French to enable him to say all 
that he wished, and it was mixed with a smatter- 
ing of Proven9al that was convenient for conversa- 
tion with the peasants. He began by having his 
picture taken by a man who had established his 
apparatus on the sidewalk by the hotel, and who 
produced tintypes with astonishing ease and rapid- 
ity. Freddy next turned his attention to the merry- 
go-round, “ les chevaux du bois^' as they say in 
French, which, American in origin, was doing a 
rushing business in Provence. A patient horse 
walked around and around ih a small inner circle, 
working the machinery, and an equally patient man 
sat grinding out the music. 

Freddy rode until he was so giddy that tables, and 
booths, and wooden horses seemed to be dancing a 
jig before him, and then, scattering sous with a 
princely air among the gaping peasant children, he 
strolled into the crowd with as much dignity as 
extreme dizziness would permit. Presently he met a 
beggar who was leading a ram of great proportions 
and with huge, fierce horns. Freddy looked at this 
oddly assorted couple with interest, wondering why 
a man who owned so stout a mutton as that should 
need to beg. He followed them for a time, for the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 339 

animal possessed a strange fascination for him. He 
had seen many flocks of sheep with their shepherds 
since he had been at Hyeres, and had often wished 
that he could walk in their midst in a long garment 
and carrying a staff, with one or two intelligent 
dogs running along to keep the timid sheep 
together. He wondered if this ancient beggar could 
once have been a shepherd who was now reduced to 
beggary, and who was unwilling to part with the 
last member of his flock. 

“ I mean to ask him,” said Freddy to himself; and 
stepping up to the man he entered into conversation, 
never a difficult matter in the south of France. 

He soon discovered that the old peasant was 
looking for a possible purchaser for his ram, which 
was, he said, of all animals the most gentle and 
docile ; his name was Joujou, and he followed those he 
loved as a dog follows his master. As the old man 
set forth in glowing terms the charms of his animal, 
a wild and daring desire formed itself in Freddy’s 
mind. How much he would like to buy such a nice 
and attractive pet ! What fun it would be to own a 
ram, and how much more interesting and unusual 
than a mere dog ! It would be a great pleasure to 
have him to play with at Hyeres, and quite easy to 
have him boxed up and sent by express when they 


340 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

left Hyeres, as they would soon be doing. Freddy 
did not trouble himself much about future contin- 
gencies ; the present was all sufficient for him. 

He asked the price of the treasure, and found it 
to be the absurdly low one of ten francs. He had 
expected the man to say twenty at least. Freddy 
had ten francs tucked away in a box at the hotel. 
He supposed from past experience that his mother 
would raise some objections to this new scheme, but 
he felt confident that they could as usual be over- 
ruled. Desiring the man to stay just where he was 
until he should return with the money, he hurried 
away from the astonished beggar and elbowed his 
way through the crowd. 

When he reached the hotel, his mother was not 
to be found. He looked for her in every possible 
place, but she was nowhere to be discovered ; neither 
was any member of the party. They had all gone 
of¥ in various directions, each supposing Freddy 
to be with some one else. In fact, Mrs. Webster 
had grown quite accustomed to allowing him to go 
about the new town alone. 

“Well, she’s not here, so I can’t ask her,” thought 
Freddy; “and the money’s mine to buy just what I 
like. Mother said so when she gave it to me. She 
never said I couldn’t buy a ram, so I mean to buy it” 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


341 


He found his money, and was about to run down- 
stairs again when he happened to glance out of the 
window, and the scene was so fascinating that he 
lingered there for a few minutes. His eye presently 
caught sight of a group of peasant children who 
were walking briskly up one of the streets, each one 
carrying a long stick like a cane. There were three 
girls and a boy. As Freddy watched them, the four 
with one accord began to limp, all leaning heavily 
upon their staffs. They suddenly appeared to be 
very lame, and, hobbling painfully along, they soon 
attracted the attention of some of the crowd; and 
then, standing in a group, they seemed to be 
singing, although Freddy was so far above them 
and the noise in the street was so great that he 
could not hear them. He watched them for a few 
minutes. 

“ If they ain’t the greatest fakes going ! ” he said 
aloud. “ They’re no more lame than I am, and not 
as much, for I’ve had a broken leg. I wonder if 
they’re just doing it for larks or if they’re really poor. 
Jiminy, but I’ve got an idea! ” 

He retired from the window and began to hop 
wildly about the room ; then he rushed to his trunk 
and dragged forth from its depths a dark smock. 
The small boys of the country wore such garments. 


342 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


and Mrs. Webster had bought one for the sole pur- 
pose of seeing how Freddy would look in it, but of 
which he felt a profound horror because it gave the 
effect of a petticoat. Now, however, it was just 
what he needed. He slipped it on, and, with a 
hasty look in the mirror, he decided that he looked 
precisely like the boys of Hyeres, in spite of his 
round, rosy face, which was so different from the 
pale, thin countenances of the natives. He was 
sure that he would never be recognized by the 
crowd as a foreigner. 

A convenient staff stood in the corner, brought 
home recently from a walk. This he seized, and, 
with his ten francs in his hand in the shape of two 
large silver pieces, he tore downstairs at headlong 
speed and out of the front door before any one stand- 
ing could have time to look at him. None of his 
friends were to be seen, and in a moment he had 
mingled with the crowd. He found the old beggar, 
who was beginning to lose hope of ever seeing the 
boy again, and in a moment the silver coins and 
the gigantic Joujou had changed owners. Just as 
quickly the old peasant was lost to view, and Freddy 
Webster was left in sole possession of a mouton of 
such huge proportions that it seemed to him that 
he had assumed charge of a pony, and of one with 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. ^ 4 ^ 

the additional inconvenience of a pair of very long 
sharp horns. 

No sooner was the rope in his hands than Freddy, 
leaning heavily on his stick as he had seen the 
peasant children do, began to limp painfully. He 
soon felt with satisfaction that he was attracting 
some attention. He hesitated to ask for alms, but 
he was afraid that if he did not he would arouse 
suspicion in this land of beggars. He concluded 
to sing a little first, and he cast about in his mind 
for a song suitable for the occasion. In a fever of 
patriotism he longed to try “ Yankee Doodle,” or 
even the difficulties of “ The Star-spangled Ban- 
ner,” but he felt that it must be something French, 
and the only native song that occurred to him was 
“ Sur le Pont d' Avignon , which Hope was forever 
singing. 

He raised his clear, high voice, and very soon a 
little crowd stood about him. With one hand hold- 
ing his stick and the other clasping a horn of the 
ram, he stood there singing, and he was enjoying 
himself very thoroughly when his eyes fell upon 
four astonished faces. To express it mildly, these 
faces seemed petrified with amazement ; for they 
were those of Mrs. Webster, Hope, Reginald, and 
Philip Sargent. 


344 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

The singer paused in the middle of a bar, a word 
half sung upon his lips, his voice dying away in a 
quaver of dismay. 

“ Wherever did you come from ” said he. “ I’m 
having such fun, and I suppose you’ll go and make 
me stop, mother.” 

“Freddy!” exclaimed his long-suffering parent. 
“ What are you doing ? And what is that horrible 
animal Don’t touch the frightful creature! It 
may hurt you.” 

“ Oh, no, he won’t ! He belongs to me, and his 
name is Joujou. He’s very tame and nice, and I 
guess they’ll keep him all right at the hotel, and 
we can get him home on the steamer very com- 
fortably. I bought him just now with my own 
money, mother, and he was very cheap indeed. I 
thought I’d rather have him than a dog, and you 
know you said I could have another dog when we 
get back to Baltimore.” 

“You have bought it, Freddy Is the child 
crazy ? ” She turned to Hope. “ What shall I do, 
Hope ? ” 

Hope, convulsed with laughter which she vainly 
tried to stifle, could not speak. Reginald made no 
effort to suppress his appreciation of the situation, 
and laughed loudly and wildly. Philip Sargent 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


345 


alone preserved a straight face. The crowd of 
natives who had been listening to the singing and 
had watched the meeting, talked, laughed, and 
gesticulated. Mrs. Webster, with a tragic expres- 
sion and an appealing gesture, turned to Sargent. 

“You must help me,” said she. “Was there 
ever so unfortunate a mother! To think of my 
son singing for sous in a crowd, and — and — how 
shall we ever get rid of that dreadful animal } ” 

As though in answer to her question, Joujou 
began to butt violently. Freddy loosened his hold 
involuntarily, and the crowd scattered to right and 
left. Joujou recognized his opportunity, and scam- 
pered off, in search, no doubt, of his former master. 
The crowd closed again and he had disappeared. 
Mr. Sargent and Reginald with one accord each 
seized an arm of Freddy and hurried him from the 
scene, followed by Mrs. Webster, supported by 
Hope. They soon reached the seclusion of the 
hotel, and Freddy was consigned to that of his bed 
for the rest of the day, lamenting bitterly the loss 
of his Joujou, his ten francs, and his good time. 
Toward evening, Hope, looking from her window 
to watch the crowds, saw an aged peasant disappear- 
ing up the hill. He was leading a portly ram. 

“ It has been a good day’s work for them !” she said. 


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

HE time had now come to bid farewell to the 



JL south, and three days later after the May Day 
fair the party left Hyeres for Paris. The Mannings 
expected to return to America within a few weeks, 
and Philip Sargent had arranged to sail by the same 
steamer, but the three girls and the Websters had 
planned from the beginning of their trip to pass the 
summer in England. 

The girls talked with enthusiasm of what they 
intended to do and where they would prefer to go 
in England, but each one secretly and for a different 
reason felt a strong disinclination to being reduced 
once more to the original five who had sailed from 
New York on that sparkling October day that 
seemed so long ago. It was in Paris one day that 
the truth came out, and it was the arrival of the 
American mail that brought it to the surface. 

“ Girls, I want to talk to you,” said Diana, com- 
ing to her friends’ room with an open letter in her 
hand. 


346 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 347 

“ Not bad news, is it? ” asked Hope, with a quick 
glance at her face. 

“ Wait until we get somewhere to talk,” returned 
Diana. “ I can’t breathe in the house. Don’t be 
too much frightened ; it is rather bad news, but not 
the worst. Mother isn’t very well.” 

They put on their hats and went out into the 
sweet spring sunshine in which great, gay, beautiful 
Paris was rejoicing. They soon reached the Champs 
Elysees, and hiring chairs, they sat in a shady and 
secluded nook and discussed the new situation. 

“ It is a letter from father,” said Diana ; “ he says 
that mother has had a wretched cold and is really 
very miserable. He doesn’t want me to come home, 
for he says she isn’t ill enough for that, but she 
misses me very much, and he wants to know what 
our plans are. I can read between the lines easily 
enough ; they want me, but they don’t want to tell 
me to come. Then, too, I used so much money in 
going to the south of France from Germany that 
I know I ought not to spend any more. Father 
doesn’t say anything about that, for he hates so to 
deny me anything. He feels so badly about not 
having as much to give me as he used to have. I 
know I ought not to go to England for that reason, 
if for no other. At any rate, I am going home.” 


348 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

Hope and Lois were both silent for a few 
moments. Lois was the first to speak. 

“ You will go with the Mannings, I suppose ? ” 

“Yes. It is such a fortunate thing that I can.” 

“Yes,” said Lois. And then after a pause she 
repeated it : “ Yes ! ” 

“ I am so sorry,” said Hope. “You have had so 
many disappointments, Di. The whole trip seems 
to have been a failure for you.” 

“ A failure ? ” echoed Diana. “ Oh, no, not 
a failure. I have had a fearful disappointment 
about my painting, but — but — ” 

“ You have had something to make up for it,” 
said Lois, calmly. 

“ Yes,” said Diana, wondering how she knew. 

Hope changed the subject quickly. “ And what 
shall we do ? ” she asked. “ Must Lois and I stay 
with the Websters when we would so much rather 
— at least, when you and the others are leaving us } 
How we shall miss you ! I feel a desire to go with 
you that is almost impossible to withstand. We 
have all had such good times together, you know.” 

“You needn’t try to explain it,” said Lois, with 
an odd little laugh. 

“ Then, too, I have used such a lot of money, 
just as Di has,” continued Hope. “ If I am the 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


349 


only poor member of the party left, what shall I do ? 
Lois and Mrs. Webster both have so much to spend 
that they won’t like my scrimpings. And then to 
be left with Mrs. Webster ! Lois, what shall we do ? ” 

“ I must think it over,” said Lois. 

“ But if I were to go and you didn’t, you would 
be left alone with the Websters again, just as you 
were in Paris before, and it would be a great deal 
harder for you now than it was then. You 
wouldn’t have — you wouldn’t have any one to help 
you, and you realize more now what Mrs. Webster 
really is. If I go, you would better go too, Lois.” 

“ I must think it over,” said Lois again. And all 
that day she thought it over. 

Hope in the meantime studied her account book 
and looked at the situation on all sides. “ I have 
spent a great deal more than I ought to have done,” 
she thought. “ It is just as Diana said, the journey 
to the south of France cost so much that I haven’t 
enough left for England. I didn’t realize it before. 
I have grown careless about such things lately ; we 
have been having such a good time.” 

She drew little lines on the sheet of paper which 
she had covered with figures, and smiled reminis- 
cently. She had certainly had a good time. 

“ And no matter what it has cost, I wouldn’t 


350 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

give up the last three months. If we hadn’t gone 
to Avignon, if we hadn’t gone to Hyeres, we 
wouldn’t — Hope Conway, idiot! Be honest with 
yourself. You know perfectly well that you are 
fairly dancing with delight because a chance has 
suddenly come for you to go home on the same 
steamer with Philip Sargent. Now, shall I go or 
stay } Where does my duty lie } Was there ever 
such a mixed-up thing as duty ? And, after all, 
why should it be my duty not to go on the same 
steamer with him } Putting him out of the ques- 
tion, imagining that he is going to Russia for the 
summer (oh, I am glad he isn’t ! ), what ought I to 
do ? I believe I will lay the whole thing with that 
exception — it is a big one — before Mrs. Manning, 
and I will not only ask her advice, but I will take 
it.” 

And Mrs. Manning advised her to go home. 
“ I am sorry to have you leave out England,” said 
she, “but you will surely have an opportunity to 
come again, and from what you tell me I am afraid 
you haven’t enough money left for travelling with 
people who can spend as much as Mrs. Webster 
and Lois. You will find that you are constantly 
being drawn into expense, because you won’t want 
to keep them from doing things, or make them 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 35 I 

uncomfortable by not doing what they do. It 
would be very different if Diana were to be with 
you, for then you two could stay out of things 
together. It is too bad, Hope ! I can’t bear to 
advise you in this way, but I don’t see how I can 
conscientiously say anything else ; you have so little 
money left.” 

“ Oh, I don’t mind as much as you think,” said 
Hope, honestly. “ I would rather go home with you 
all than see England with Mrs. Webster, even if I 
had lots of money.” 

“ Oh, then it is all right,” said Mrs. Manning ; 
and if she saw a little deeper than Hope intended, 
she gave no sign. 

“ I only hope Lois will decide to go, too,” observed 
Hope, as she was leaving the room. “ I don’t want 
to leave her again; but, then, Lois is so different now. 
She doesn’t feel as she did about Mrs. Webster, and 
I think she will go with us.” 

But sometimes a few months, or even a few 
weeks, have brought such a new turn of affairs that 
what a short time ago would have been the wrong 
thing to do has suddenly become the right, and 
what was once a selfish course now develops into 
one of self-denial. Lois, alone in her room that 
afternoon while her friends were doing some of the 


352 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

sights of Paris, fought a battle that left its marks 
on her character through all the years to come. 

She had excused herself from going with them 
on the plea that she had seen so much of Paris in 
the winter, and, when they were all gone, she locked 
herself into her room. It was the same that she had 
occupied when she was there before, and as she went 
to the window and looked out upon the roofs and 
chimney-pots, she remembered the day when she 
and Freddy, after sitting in this window, had started 
for their walk and had met Arthur Manning on the 
steps. 

“ How much has happened since then,” she 
thought ; “ and how foolish I was ever to think 
that he could like me ! He is so good and true 
and noble, and so is Diana. What am I that he 
should ever think of me 1 I am thankful to have 
had a little bit of his friendship. If I stay here, I 
may lose even that. If I go over on the same 
steamer, I could see something of him, and after we 
get back perhaps! — and if I stay, I must give up 
everything, and just be with Mrs. Webster and 
Freddy, and she will be just what she was in Paris 
over again. And I want to go I I want to go 1 I 
cannot give him up entirely 1 He isn’t engaged to 
Di yet. He might change. Perhaps Di doesn’t care 


THREE GIRLS OP HAZELMERE. 


353 

for him as I do — but she does ! She does ! I must 
not go.” 

And so all the afternoon she thought about it, and 
when Hope came to the room on her return Lois 
had reached a decision. 

“ Well,” said Hope, looking at her narrowly ; “ I 
am afraid it isn’t well ! You look — Lois, I verily 
believe you have been crying ! ” 

Hope had come in with a radiant expression on 
her own face, her eyes dancing with fun, and a 
bright color in her cheeks. She had enjoyed the 
afternoon, and deep down in her heart was a happy 
consciousness of something good that the future 
was holding for her which colored the present with 
a rosy light. Now the laughter died out of her eyes, 
and a deep sympathy for Lois took its place. 

“ Tell me all about it, dear,” she said, putting her 
arm tenderly about her friend. 

“ Oh, Hope,” whispered Lois as she clung to her, 
“ I am not going, though I want to, oh, I want to ! 
I am going to stay with Mrs. Webster. Don’t try 
to persuade me to go. I know that I must not. I 
shall get over it — I shall enjoy England after — 
after I get used to being without you all.” 

And Hope understood and could sympathize, 
and so, little by little, Lois unfolded the whole sad 


2A 


354 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

little story, for Hope was always a safe confidante; 
and Lois found it easier to bear her trouble when 
she had once talked out freely. 

“ Diana must never know,” she said, “ and that 
is one of the many reasons why it is better for me 
not to go home with you. Oh, Hope, if you were 
only going to stay ! If you would only come with 
us to England ! ” 

“ But don’t you see, dearest, that I can’t } I 
really haven’t the money, Lois. I have consulted 
Mrs. Manning, and she agrees with me that it would 
be most foolish for me to stay with you and Mrs. 
Webster. Much as I want to see England, I really 
oughtn’t to do it.” 

“ But, Hope, if you would only stay as my guest ! 
Now don’t exclaim, but just wait until I tell you. 
You know perfectly well that I can have all the 
money I want for this trip. You know, too, that 
father and mother would a thousand times rather 
have you with me than have me stay alone with Mrs. 
Webster. They didn’t like my doing that before, 
and they won’t be able to understand why I deliber- 
ately do it again, and I can’t explain to them why 
I must do it. When they hear that you went home 
because you couldn’t afford to stay, they will be 
sure to say that I ought to have asked you to 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 355 

stay as my guest. Now, Hope, you know they 
will." 

“ Oh, my dear, I couldn’t ! It would be taking 
so much.” 

“ Hope ! What silly, ridiculous pride ! Haven’t 
you and Di and I shared everything* all our lives 1 
Is it an unusual thing for people to ask their friends 
to visit them in this way.f^ You know very well 
that it is done all the time. And you ought to 
see England, Hope — and oh, if you would only 
stay with me ! I feel as if I couldn’t bear it if you 
all go and leave me. Hope, dear Hope, please 
stay ! ’’ 

Hope did not speak for a few minutes. She did 
not wish to stay. Had not her heart been dancing 
all day because she was going with the others.? 
And now she saw the plan fading away. She real- 
ized the truth of all that Lois had said ; she knew 
that there was no good reason for not accepting 
her invitation. She was not needed at home dur- 
ing the summer, for she was not expected, and it had 
been her desire for years to see England, as every 
one knew. How should she be able to explain her 
return, to her own family as well as to Mr. and Mrs. 
Putnam.? How could she explain it to herself.? 

“ I must think it over," she said presently to Lois, 


356 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE, 

just as Lois had said the same words in the morn- 
ing, “ we won’t talk about it any more to-night ; I 
will tell you in the morning.” But all the time she 
knew what her decision would be. 

She went early to her room that evening. “ Now, 
Jane Hope Conway,” she said to herself as she 
closed the door and bolted it, “we* will see what 
sort of stuff you are made of. Do you mean to tell 
me that you are going to desert your oldest friend 
when she needs you 1 Poor little Lois ! She is so 
brave and sweet she sets you a good example. Are 
you going to give up England when all your days 
you have been plotting and planning to get there } 
Are you going to — in short, are you going to make 
a fool of yourself } For if you give it all up just 
for the sake of going home on the same steamer 
with Philip Sargent, you will be making a fool of 
yourself. If he cares anything about you — yes, 
you’d better blush, you little idiot ! ” (she was gaz- 
ing at herself in the mirror as she held this con- 
versation) “ you will see him again somewhere. If 
you give up England simply in order to go on that 
steamer, you will be deliberately running after him, 
and I for one shall be ashamed of you ! ” 

She nodded her head slowly and emphatically at 
the face in the mirror. “You goose, you! Quick, 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 357 

now, before you have time to weaken ! Run for all 
you are worth, and tell Lois.” And within three 
minutes there was a sharp tap on Lois’s door. 

“ Lois, I am going to stay with you,” said Hope, 
thrusting in her head. “No, I can’t come in now, 
but I’ve made up my mind. I thought perhaps you 
would sleep better if you knew it to-night. Good- 
night! Can’t stop — awfully sleepy, you know — 
at least I’m not sleepy, but it’s very late. Only nine 
o’clock, you say } Why, I thought it was mid- 
night ! But I am going to England with you, so 
there is nothing else to be said. Good-night I ” 
The door closed again and she was gone. 

The next day not one of the party suspected that 
Hope had been awake most of the night. She was 
a bit paler than usual, but that was all. Her spirits 
seemed higher and her laugh merrier than ever, 
and it was the opinion of all of her friends that the 
new plan was very much to her liking. Hope 
never did anything by halves. 

And so Diana and the Mannings and Philip 
Sargent sailed for home, and Hope, Lois, and the 
Websters crossed the Channel; and when the day 
of parting came, both Hope and Lois felt that they 
had decided for the right, hard as it had been to 
reach that decision. 


358 THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

It was not until October that the three friends 
met again, and then once more they were in Hazel- 
mere. One day, some three weeks after their ar- 
rival, they were sitting in the room that was still 
called Diana’s studio, although she could never use 
it as such again. 

“ How strangely things turn out,” said she, as 
she looked about at the half-finished sketches and 
the canvases that stood with their faces to the 
wall ; “ I thought when the German oculist told me 
that I could never paint again, that life held nothing 
more that I could care for. How little I knew that 
my very misfortune was leading me to the south of 
France to meet Arthur. Oh, girls, dear, I wish you 
were both as happy as I am ! I begin at the 
hospital next week. And even if I never practice 
much nursing, I can be a help to Arthur, and under- 
stand his profession better.” 

“ Oh you needn’t think that you have all the hap- 
piness there is going,” said Hope, laughing. She 
had a thick letter in her pocket as she spoke, which 
bore the New York postmark, and Philip Sargent 
had been the first person she had seen on the 
wharf when their steamer came in. “We did have 
a good time, didn’t we, in spite of all our trials and 
tribulations How we did long to go and see a 


THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 


359 


bit of life, and what a time we had finding a 
chaperon! And then to have discovered Mrs. 
Webster and Freddy, of all people — and think of 
her staying abroad another winter ! ” 

“ I think she is going to stay longer than that,” 
said Lois. 

“ Why, what do you mean } ” asked Hope. “ I 
had a feeling that you knew something to-day that 
you intended to spring on us.” 

“ Hope ! You always think you know so 
much 1 ” 

“ But what is it 1 ” asked Diana. 

“ Mrs. Webster is going to marry Sir William 
Beauchamp I ” 

“ Lois ! ” 

“ Cecil’s brother } ” 

“ Yes. He is a widower with a son and three 
daughters, and a place in Surrey, and, I think, not 
much money. Cecil has often spoken of them and 
told me a good deal about them.” 

“ Why, we met him I ” exclaimed Hope. “ I re- 
member him perfectly. So she has found a perma- 
nent prop to lean upon I And is it possible that he 
is going to undertake the care of Freddy } I have 
always heard a good deal about English courage, 
and this proves it. But what about Cecil, Lois 


360 . THREE GIRLS OF HAZELMERE. 

He told me he was coming over to ‘ the States’ this 
winter. Is he coming ? ” 

“ No,” replied Lois ; “ he isn’t coming.” 

“H-m-m!”said Hope. “Poor Cecil! I think I must 
put him in the book I am going to write this winter.” 

“ Don’t put the rest of us in, I beg of you I ” ex- 
claimed Diana. 

“No danger of that. You and Arthur are en- 
tirely too humdrum. And, after all, I shall not take 
my characters from life ; that isn’t the highest form 
of art.” 

“ That sounds very much like Mr. Sargent,” said 
Diana. “ So you are going to begin to write, Hope.^” 

“Of course. You know I always intended to.” 

“ Yes, I know, but circumstances sometimes 
alter cases.” 

“ There are no circumstances in my case.” 

“ Oh, aren’t there ? Well, I hope, at least, that 
you will be original.” 

“ And why shouldn’t I be original } ” asked Hope, 
with some asperity. 

“ Because, even though there may be no circum- 
stances, there is always the great undeniable fact of 
Philip Sargent.” 

“ That is true,” said Lois, quietly, “but Hope will 
be Hope.” ^ 


























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